Carson City supervisors are slated to award a construction bid Thursday on a nearly half-million-dollar expansion of City Hall.
The 2,750-square-foot addition, approved last year in the city's budget, will provide space crucial to the expansion of several city departments as well as a reorganization of some offices, said City Manager Linda Ritter.
The building plans call for removal of the last reminder that City Hall was once a Bank of America, the drive-through windows. The roof over the windows already extends well past the building's current walls, so it won't need to be built-out to accommodate the addition.
When the city bought the building for $1.2 million in 1997, one selling point was its design - a design that allowed for building upwards as the growth of Carson City led to the growth in its government.
But building up was far more expensive than building out along the old bank's northeast corner, Ritter said, and the city doesn't need that much more space.
"We feel this is going to take care of City Hall for quite some time," she said.
The expansion will allow the city to move its human resources offices out of the lobby area, so employees can learn about their benefits and prospective new hires don't have to apply for a job in front of the general public and random passersby.
The addition will also make room for the expansion of the city's assessor and information technology offices while making space for the finance department to combine with risk management and treasurer offices, which are all closely linked.
"We're taking care of quite a few needs with this one project," Ritter said.
City officials originally estimated the project would cost $320,000, but later changed it to $470,000. Reno contractor Building Solutions, LLC. won the job with a low bid of $489,921. With a $25,000 contingency fund, the project could end up costing nearly $515,000.
Ritter said the city would likely tell the contractor to go ahead with the project within a few days of approving the contract. The builder would have 150 days from then to finish the job, meaning the expansion could be finished as soon as this fall.
n Contact reporter Cory McConnell at cmcconnell@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.
