Petition to save city hall coming at inopportune time

POST FALLS – Post Falls voters: If you’re asked to sign a petition to preserve the old City Hall building, Post Falls City Council members hope you’ll say “no.”

Bob Templin, the driving force behind Templin’s Resort in Post Falls, has been a vocal proponent of preserving the 7,500-square-foot masonry block building, now too small to house all the city’s departments.

On July 20, Templin began circulating petitions to demand the city “preserve and maintain” the old City Hall and make it available “for the benefit and use of the people.”

But the foundation’s poured and structural steel is going up for the adjoining new $5 million, two-story building that will enable the burgeoning city to consolidate its staff, which is now spread out in numerous buildings around town, said Mayor Clay Larkin.

City Attorney Jerry Mason told council members at a Tuesday meeting the petition is “very ill-timed and means we’d have to undo work that’s already complete.”

Larkin hopes citizens remember that the council took a long hard look at adding on to and repairing the circa-1979 building.

The building’s size doubled in 1997. Today, it needs structural repairs, roof repairs, electrical updates, utility improvements and is too small to house all city departments in one place, Larkin said.

The council determined it would be more cost effective to construct a new city hall that could accommodate growing demands and future needs expected with the town’s population boom.

“And we’re doing it without raising property taxes,” Larkin said.

Crews started work on the new building in April.

City Clerk Chris Pappas said before the decision to demolish the old building was made, the city asked every group it could think of if they wished to buy the structure.

Nobody called, she said.

Added Councilman Joe Bodman: “We studied this over and over and put out the opportunity to others … to take over the building and keep it.”

In addition, the site is now sloped in such a way that rain and melting snow and ice will wash toward the old building, Pappas said.

Templin needs 264 signatures of local, registered voters by late September to get the issue on the November ballot, Pappas said.

Mason said if this issue passes, it would be a financial burden on the city where taxes can’t be raised to support it.

“This is really unprecedented,” Mason said.

At the close of the meeting, Councilman Dick Harris told council members he’s decided not to run for re-election in the fall.

Harris recently retired from a 40-year career in education. He was appointed in January to serve the term vacated by Todd Tondee, who took a job with the county.

But Harris joked: “It’s cutting into my playtime.”