by Leanne Loy
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The decision of which architect firm is going to head the Jacob Wetterling Community Center is drawing to a close. At the July 6 council meeting it was announced the community center committee had made its final decision. However, there are still some concerns within the city council that need to be addressed.
The decision was first narrowed down from 18 prospects, so the committee had their work cut out for them on the decision-making process. On June 16, the committee members and members of the city council listened to four firms speak on their ideas, experiences and their estimated budgets. From there, the task was to reconvene as a group and make a final decision.
On June 23, the committee made its final decision that HGA would be the architect firm they would recommend. However, at the council meeting this past Tuesday night, one member, Bob Loso was not in attendance and had previously asked that no final decisions on the architectural firm be made until all members could be present.
Council member Kelly Beniek stated she was in attendance during that June 23 meeting and felt the committee members did a thorough job of considering their options and she fully supports their decision.
“I still support the committee,” she said. “They asked a lot of great questions and did their due diligence to make this decision.”
Murray Mack, CEO of St. Cloud-based HMA Architects, was also in attendance. HMA Architects was the committee’s second option. Mack took the podium during the public comments portion of the meeting to state his concerns in the committee’s decision.
“While I respect the process the committee went through to make its recommendation, I would ask the council reconsider some of the issues that were considered in that process.” Mack said.
One of Mack’s major concerns, he said, is using a nonlocal firm versus a local one. He was “disheartened” to learn the committee had chosen a firm from the Twin Cities instead of one of the three local firms it was considering.
Mayor Rick Schultz said he also wants to make sure all aspects of the budgeting have been taken into account as well as local experience.
“I think some of the fees will come to bite us later on, so I am concerned how that fits into the overall budget itself,” he said. “I’m also concerned about the lack of local experience and local involvement this company (HGA) has had.”
The council agreed it would reconvene on the matter in two weeks when council member Loso can be present and make its final decision then.
