Civic Center Expansion Bids Being Sought

Bids for expansion of the Civic Center are to be presented to the City Council by late December, officials said this week.

“We’re hoping to start construction in January,” City Manager Fred Maley said. “Completion could be in about 60 days.”

Plans call for expanding City Hall by about 1,500 square feet. The council is also considering a 360-square-foot addition to the city’s branch library, which adjoins City Hall in the Civic Center complex.

At its Oct. 22 meeting, the council decided to seek bids for the two projects. Maley estimated that the City Hall expansion will cost about $110,000 and $20,000 more for the library addition.

The City Hall construction is to include storage space, an administrative office for sheriff’s deputies, an office for the city Building Department, a conference room, and a room for the city’s Community Access Television.

Maley said he favored an addition to the city’s branch library after studying plans for the City Hall addition, which would adjoin the library. “It seems like it would be the easiest time to add on to the library while we’re doing this other work,” Maley said.

The library construction would add space to the reading area.

“There is a serious lack of reading area in the library,” Maley said. “The library area will be bid as optional work that may be included in the [City Hall expansion] project or rejected without affecting the basic bid.”