BY JAMES WILLIAMS
Special to the Monitor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—During an Aug. 21 budget workshop, Keystone Heights City Councilman Tony Brown pitched his vision for a new city hall.
The idea is not new and has not yet reached any real planning stage, but city officials received it well at the workshop, and it is clear that some level of work and investigation will proceed.
Two locations were discussed, the first across South Lawrence Boulevard from the current city hall.
City Manager Lynn Rutkowski pointed to the location’s legal restrictions, given its designation as a nature park. Further use of the property forbids any structure from creating revenue other than money to support the nature park itself.
Some years ago, the city discussed putting a replica of the town’s 1925 city hall on the site to include a small museum of the town’s history, a project which could have been allowed.
Vice Mayor Chris Thompson suggested the city “…move the tennis courts over to Sunrise Park and put in pickleball and just make it a sports complex, then I think that would be an appropriate place for the splash park.”
Thompson suggested having all city recreation activities at one location, complete with (relocated) tennis and basketball courts, pickleball courts added—and a splash park.
Presumably, that would leave space for a new and expanded city hall at the current location. The idea of incorporating usable parts of the existing building into a new one was touched upon briefly instead of simply tearing it down and starting over.
Brown said he had seen significant growth in the area since Keystone’s days as a one-traffic-light town. “And I know there’s going to be opposition (to a new city hall) because it’s going to have a big price tag on it.”
Brown told the group that Congressman Aaron Bean is excited about the project and offered to help.
City Manager Lynn Rutkowski said the assistance of Senator Jennifer Bradley and State Representatives Bobby Payne and Sam Garrison should be solicited before approaching Bean for Federal grants and other programs.
“There are requirements on our part,” Rutkowski told the group. “There are duties that we have as the partner.”
Councilman Steve Hart asked, “Why not have the Congressman look into getting some money so he can quantify what’s available…get him to be a little more specific. Do the museum, too. And if we get the city hall built, then use the museum as a public meeting space for Kiwanis, Rotary, or whoever because we really do need meeting space within the city. And that would be a freestanding building with parking across the street. So why not do both?”
Undaunted by the prospect of opposition, Brown and the budget group went on to consider adding space for a Clay County Tax Collector’s office within the proposed building, a sheriff’s office substation, an emergency operations center, and a museum of Keystone history.
Rutkowski added, “We need to have a place where our residents do not have to travel to the other side (of the county) to get services taken care of. And currently, our tax collector is in a building she is paying rent on. And if that were in a government building, that rent (would not be) absorbing county tax dollars.”
As recently as 2016, the city spent over $250,000 for roof repairs and other upgrades on the current city hall building.
Rutkowski and Brown cited continuing electrical and other problems with the existing city hall, including lack of space while the city grows.
Rutkowski enumerated funds the city might use to cover some of the cost. But she stressed the need for presenting something concrete instead of “just asking for $30 million.”
Mayor Nina Rodenroth suggested getting an architect to put the group’s ideas down on paper.
City Attorney Rich Komando added, “I’ve been down this road with other organizations. Maybe before you hire the architect…put together a citizen-staff-council committee to brainstorm ideas. Otherwise, your architect will start designing, and then when the ideas come, they’re going to redesign and redesign again. The closer you can get to (the final outcome), even if it’s (just) sketched out, I think you’ll save yourself a little bit of money.”
No one at the workshop stated that a new city hall was unnecessary. No one challenged the idea that the current building has serious problems. Brown said he thought a new city hall would be his lasting legacy to the town.
Rutkowski closed this portion of the budget meeting by saying she was excited by the ideas presented during the workshop and the council’s cooperation and looked forward to the work ahead.
