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Medford City Hall may get a remodeling By Jim Davis & Julie Swensen Medford City Hall may be getting a face lift. A Medford architect and city staff are looking at ways to redesign the interior of the building, said Cathie Davis, assistant to the Medford city manager. "It's all very tentative at this point in time," Davis said. "We're moving toward some tentative plans." Floor plans -- which included an expanded police department and a new reception area -- were presented to the City Council at a study session this week. Davis, who is heading the project, said that she wanted to get a sense for the council's feelings on the designs. She said she will ask the council to form a subcommittee to start reviewing the plans. The remodeling could run as high as $1.2 million, according to early, preliminary estimates. Davis said the estimate is rough and is purposely higher than expected, to account for any possible contingencies. Any remodeling will have to be approved by the council. The city is in position to look at remodel options because five departments -- water, parks and recreation, fire, building and planning -- moved out of City Hall last May and into the new Lausmann Annex. The city hired Ogden-Schmitz & Associates Architects & Planners of Medford to help city workers make the best use of available space in City Hall. The firm is being paid $10,000. Davis said that one of the priorities is to add a reception area. She said there will be a clerk to handle police matters and a receptionist to answer general information about the city. She also said that the Medford Police Department, now on the first floor, would expand into part of the second floor of City Hall, near the municipal court. The police department would also expand downstairs, becoming a single common area. The department is currently divided by two public hallways into three large sections. Davis said that the current configuration poses a security problem. Besides security, there are other problems the police department must contend with because of the building's design, said Chief Eric Mellgren. "We literally have no place that we can sit down with the victim of a crime or a witness and debrief them," Mellgren said. Detectives have to take suspects and crime victims into their unmarked cars and drive around, because there is no private area to talk with them, he said. Mellgren has seen parents at the counter crying about a runaway child, having to tell their story out in the hallway. "We just have to make it more customer friendly," he said. "That's a huge problem. It affects everything from our own credibility to our ability to do our work." Among other things, the police department also would like to have new training and locker rooms. Officers currently have to go to county shops or karate studios for training. And the current locker rooms are "tiny, cramped and unpleasant," Mellgren said. Faucets leak, and an opening door takes away any privacy when officers change clothes. The proposed improvements would be on top of $750,000 the city is already spending this fiscal year for maintenance and improvements at City Hall. This year's improvements include resurfacing and better lighting at the city's parking lot, looking at the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, and putting on a new roof. Davis said that the roof has leaked in recent years. "We didn't have the problem in there this winter," Davis said. "I didn't see any buckets." Davis said that City Hall hasn't undergone a remodel since it opened in 1968. "It's not that bad if you only do a serious remodel every 30 years," Davis said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA