By LARRY LANNAN
Fishers City Hall is beginning to sink into the ground and keeping the building afloat, plus other required work, will cost the city more money in the future. That was the message Fishers City Council members received at a Thursday night work session from Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren.
An engineering study completed three weeks ago specified the price tag of work needed on the building immediately and over the coming three-year period.
Hultgren went through some of the structure’s history. What was then Fishers Town Hall was completed in 1992, a two-story, wood frame building. In 1994, moving and settling of the Hall was discovered, addressed, and nothing like that was detected until 2012.
At that time, more sinking of the structure was found, more underpinnings were added and that appeared to fix the issue.
The latest engineering report found more sinking, described as significant, as well as cracking of the structure and floors coming apart.
In the past five years, Hultgren told councilors that $1.6 million has been spent on maintenance and upgrades to City Hall. The latest engineering report urges more than $430,000 be spent immediately on the building.
In addition, the study recommends $2.1 million of work over the next three years, with $1.6 million of that total to be expended in the next 12 months. And none of that money would address the problem of the building settling (sinking).
Mayor Scott Fadness told the council City Hall has a “flimsy construction.”
Fadness
“When you walk in there, it does not feel like an institutional building,” said Fadness.
The cost of demolishing City Hall and replacing it with a three-story steel frame structure would cost the city an estimated $18 to $21 million, according to Hultgren.
Fadness and City Councilman Todd Zimmerman suggested that part of a new community center being studied by a group headed by Zimmerman might have more than one location, with an arts and culture center as a part of any new City Hall complex.
Members of the council appeared to agree that all options must be considered based on the assessment of City Hall’s current condition.
Fadness emphasized that he wants any new City Hall financial plan to be reasonable and one that would make sense for the taxpayers of Fishers.
The mayor says he will work with his staff and consultants on how a new City Hall might be built and the tax impact that would have on local residents.