Inside City Hall: The heat is on

City Council members are feeling the pressure as they begin planning Mill Creek’s capital facility projects for the upcoming budget cycle.

At the top of the list: a major remodel of City Hall, a police station, a senior center and a sports park complex.

Community leaders have lobbied council for years to provide funding for a community and senior center, while families with children urge the city to provide more parks and playfields.

“There are a lot of important projects that we have to consider here,” City Councilman Mark Bond said at a meeting on April 22. “When we’re talking about all these big-ticket items, whatever we put in here (the Capital Facilities Plan) may become gospel to some people, and I’m not sure how to deal with that.”

Both the police station and the remodel of City Hall are dependent on combination of factors. The city has three vacant properties — any of which could house a police station. City leaders are hopeful, however, that the Sno-Isle Library District’s interest in building a new facility at the east end of town will open up the current library for the police department. That option will require permission from the Hamlett family, who dedicated the property to the city for a library.

Until the library district moves forward, plans for City Hall’s renovation and the police station remain in limbo.

The senior center is less complicated as a property near the country club has already been dedicated for the project by the Mill Creek Community Association. However, the project itself is being steered by a private foundation that will own and maintain the facility.

The senior center foundation will likely ask the council later this month to provide some money for the project, but its not clear what additional roles — if any — the city will have in relation to that facility.

“We’ve got lots of big projects in front of us, but we’re not clear enough on any of them to really move forward or say for sure whether we can realistically complete them in the next two years,” City Councilman Mike Todd said. “I wish we knew more about moving the police out of City Hall or what the senior center folks really are after. We have this City Hall renovation. But what does that mean? It depends on a lot of different factors.”

The planning process for 2009 and 2010 CFP will go on through the summer. A committee of council members and city staff will deliberate over the various projects, which also include several roadway and intersection improvements.

There are no restrictions as to the number of projects that can be included for consideration. City Council members worry, however, that community members will see that list as a promise of what’s to come in the next two years.

“We have to accept that some members of the public will look at the list and take it as our word that these projects will all be funded,” Mayor Terry Ryan said. “So we do need to be careful in this process.”