In a unanimous vote at its meeting Monday night, the Philomath City Council hired an architectural firm to conduct a feasibility study for upgrades and possible expansion of Philomath Community Library.
Robertson Sherwood, whose past work includes design work on the $34 million Eugene Public Library’s main branch, won the job over eight other firms that had submitted bids.
The feasibility study will take a look at the current layout and uses of the building and include interviews with library staff and patrons plus community meetings, City Manager Chris Workman told councilors. After collecting information, the firm will then come up with recommendations and a conceptual design for functionality, space requirements and other elements.
“We’ll be getting back from them a proposal — ‘here’s what we heard you wanted, here’s where your limitations are, here’s our recommendations for how to fix that’ with some rough estimates on what that cost would look like,” Workman said.
Workman added that the firms that submitted bids understood that the extent of the final design could fall within a wide range.
“Robertson Sherwood, especially, are very comfortable knowing there may be a large range there — this might be a $300,000 fix with some interior remodel,” Workman said. “The gist in going through the interviews, it sounds like the librarians have a sense that it’s going to be a little bit more than that and there’s some needed space there.
“But they’re very comfortable with that growing and then they’re also very comfortable with taking a pause and doing some fundraising, some capital campaigning and knowing that they’re going to be there for us when we’re ready to move forward,” Workman added.
An evaluation team of city and Corvallis-Benton County Public Library representatives reviewed and scored nine bids that were submitted. The top three were identified and interviewed.
“We were very pleased with the response. We had nine proposals, which was terrific,” Workman said. “All of them were thorough and complete and felt like it gave us a good picture of the firms that they represented.”
Robertson Sherwood in its bid proposal included a cost estimate of $47,600, which sat in the middle to lower third among the nine submissions. Workman said several applications came in at $60,000-plus.
The city initially had a projected budget of $30,000 for the feasibility study portion of the library expansion project but last month approved up to $60,000 based on higher numbers that had been coming in.
Workman added that the Robertson Sherwood bid included some additional services that the city will utilize and found interactions with them to be very comfortable.
“I am actually excited to get going and work with them because I can sense their excitement on wanting to take this project on,” Workman said. “Architect firms love doing library projects because it’s exciting for them, they work with community members … creating these spaces, creating these environments and they look really, really good on their resumes when they go out for other projects. … They’re just good, happy fun spaces that you can do a lot with.”
In other news out of the March 11 meeting:
• The council approved the release of a request for proposals for a Philomath Frolic and Rodeo arena project at city-owned Skirvin Park. The scope of the project includes new grandstands, lighting, restroom, stormwater treatment and detention area and paved walkways.
• The council approved membership on the city’s new Housing and Economic Development Committee. Mayor Chas Jones, councilors Matt Lehman and Christopher McMorran will be joined by 11 residents — David Alba, Steve Cyr, Robert Davis, Ronald Derrick, Sandy Heath, Spencer Irwin, Carly Johansen, Janel Lajoie, Nancy Murphy, Stuart Pritchard and Whitney Smart.
• The council approved a preliminary design for a Philomath City Hall remodeling project to move forward with the preparation of a request for proposals for the final design, engineering and construction.
• The council approved a three-year contract with Salem-based SingerLewak to conduct financial auditing services.
• The council adopted on a roll-call vote an ordinance that adds proposed language into municipal code to limit the city’s liability for claims arising from the public’s use of trails.
• The council recognized longtime City Attorney Jim Brewer, who was attending his last council meeting. Brewer is retiring at the end of the month.
• The council approved a resolution to proclaim March as Women’s History Month.
• Mayor Chas Jones announced the top two submissions of the If I Were Mayor contest. First place went to Ava Oster with second to Ruby Oster. Eight submissions were received from sixth- and seventh-grade students in Cathleen Oefelein’s class at Philomath Middle School.
• The council approved a consent agenda that included meeting and work session minutes.
• The council preceded the regular meeting with a 90-minute work session for Strategic Plan and budget discussions.
