Cornerstone awarded City Hall rebuild job

In order to get City Hall rebuilt quickly after last month’s surprise flooding, the Liberty Lake City Council voted last night to skip competitive bidding for the reconstruction.

Instead, Cornerstone Construction was given the green light to rebuild the damaged wing of the building and the City Council made sure that the company stayed within 10 percent of its construction costs estimate.

“This is what we need to justify the initial call to Cornerstone,” said, Arlene Fisher, city finance and administration director. Normally cities must accept bids on any construction project to ensure all companies get a fair chance at the job. But state law allows cities to suspend those rules in cases of emergency.

On the day the flooding was discovered, city officials called Cornerstone Construction immediately to halt the damage and begin drying out the building, Fisher said. With hundreds of gallons of water pouring over the mayor’s desk, there was no time for competitive bidding.

While Mexican tunes dully hummed above during the meeting, held again in the basement of the Trailhead Golf Course clubhouse and Palenque Restaurant, council members also made adjustments to city code and personnel policies.

The council’s rules of procedure were adjusted to reflect the duties of the mayor pro-tem, as well as the consolidation of the Public Works and Community Development committees.

Limits and new rules on city credit card use were implemented into the city’s personnel policy, and the city’s municipal code was edited to clarify language and correct errors.

Council members also updated the city’s comprehensive plan to change the zoning on four ball fields owned by AmericanWest Bank from open space designation to mixed-use community center status.

Earlier in the meeting, council members wrangled with a vision statement for the proposed civic center project on six acres of city-owned land.

“A vision statement gives us an idea of where to go,” said Gary Bernardo, part of the team working to design the area. “The statement does not address specific times or sequences for when things should be done.”

Council members gave their input and decided on a few key points they wanted to be included in the statement.