Memorandum 12-023 City Hall Furnishings

MEMORANDUM 12-023
TO: Mayor Hornaday and Homer City Council
FROM: Walt Wrede
DATE: February 7, 2012
SUBJECT: City Hall Furnishings

The City Hall expansion and renovation project is essentially complete. The project budget contained funds to replace some or all of the furniture in the Council Chambers and other public areas such as the waiting area and conference room on the second floor. There are several other public areas which need to be furnished. Those areas include the lobby on the first floor and the reception and meeting areas in the administration office. There are a number of relatively minor items which are needed also including shelving and cabinets for storage areas, blinds, entry mats to protect new carpets, and internal directional signage. Finally, there are several offices in which the furniture should be replaced.
We are not proposing to replace all of the office furniture in every office. City Hall personnel are using the old furniture for the most part. Most of it is very old but still functional. The staff have done a great job trading furniture and moving it around to better suit the new office layout and configuration. However, some desks should be replaced because they are broken, unsafe, or targeted for replacement by the insurance company ergonomic specialist. One staff person has furniture that does not fit her new space. In all, this budget contains 9 new desks and a new reception area counter in the administration office.
We had originally planned to purchase half of these furnishings (about $45,000 ) using unspent year- end money from FY 2011. We informed the Council of our intent. In the end, we were not able to do that because the furniture would not have arrived in time to meet auditing standards. So, that money simply lapsed into the General Fund Reserve / Balance and we are now proposing to spend it this year rather than in 2011.
RECOMMENDATION: Introduce and Adopt Ordinance 12-07.