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Shady Cove explores fixup or replacement of too-small City Hall By MEG LANDERS Mail Tribune SHADY COVE - It's time for a City Hall overhaul. So say residents such as Mike Malepsy, developer of six Shady Cove subdivisions who's made many trips over the years to the planning department. "It's hard for (the city staff) to do business, and hard for the public to do business," he says. Shady Cove simply has outgrown its 2,000-square-foot offices for building, planning, utilities, a clerk, an administrator, a recorder and the police department in addition to the City Council chambers, he says. City Administrator Elise Smurzynski is putting together a City Hall remodel committee as authorized at last week's City Council meeting. With $10,000 designated for facility analysis and a conceptual plan, the city wants a committee to hire an architect to evaluate the 1976 structure at 22451 Highway 62. The architect would be directed to consider everything from remodeling to relocating. Also in the budget is a $50,000 federal grant the city received in 2000 to upgrade the bathrooms to accommodate disabled patrons. The city also has approximately $40,000 from the sale of property to put toward the project. Smurzynski says she hopes that some day the police will be able to interview a victim without having to lock everyone else out of the department, for example. Gretchen Meloth of the planning department says she's often challenged to find a place to go through the paperwork and large rolls of plans she deals with regularly. She says she doesn't have room to display city and land use maps. "I've got a gigantic floodway (map) that is taped sideways on my filing cabinet," she says, adding that she and patrons must tilt their heads to look at it. "You really can't do your best when you don't have any elbow room," says Meloth, who has been with the planning department for nearly five years. Smurzynski expects this project to take time. Once formed, the committee needs to solicit bids from architects and agree on a basic design plan before seeking funding, she says. "It could be years from now," says Smurzynski, "but we definitely could provide a better level of accessibility. "It's a little chummy," she says, adding, "You have to go outside to change your mind." Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.