FILLMORE : Council to Retain City Hall Architect

Despite two council members’ inclination to fire an architect blamed for delaying construction of Fillmore’s new City Hall, the City Council voted Tuesday night to keep W. John Kulwiec on the job.

“I’d really like to pull the rug out from under him,” Mayor Linda Brewster said before the meeting. “But we’ve spent a lot of time and money so far.”

Council members voted unanimously to continue negotiations with Kulwiec’s firm after the project architect vowed to do everything possible to bring the building in line with the budget without significant changes in design or size.

“I’m optimistic enough they can pull it off and we don’t have to start over,” Brewster said after Johnson’s remarks.

Fillmore officials hired the firm four months ago to design a $2.2-million City Hall, using $1.2 million in federal funds to pay for the building that would also house businesses displaced by the Northridge earthquake.

But the lowest bid received earlier this month came in at $3.3 million, far more than the city could afford.

Brewster and Campbell said before the meeting that they wanted to fire Kulwiec, who has received more than $100,000 from the city so far. The two backed off their threat after they decided it would be too costly to fire the Camarillo architect.

Instead, the council decided to reject all bids and pare the project. New bids will be solicited for the initial phase of the project only, which the city has budgeted at $1.4 million.

Central Park and city office improvements will not be included in the new bidding.

Further, Kulwiec agreed to pare his original proposal without reducing the building’s size, and he agreed to do the changes for free. The 15,000-square-foot, two-story structure is to be built on Santa Clara Avenue.

Officials had expected the new City Hall to be ready by August. City Manager Roy Payne said he now expects it to be finished by this time next year.