Council to seek free assessment from Terra Firma before approving $14,000 seismic study for City Hall EOC

Depoe Bay councilors agreed to pursue a free site assessment from a firm identified as Terra Firma before approving a paid seismic rehabilitation assessment for City Hall, which is designated as the city’s emergency operations center.

City staff said Terra Firma will provide a free assessment to identify retrofit needs and recommend what would be required to meet seismic performance objectives. Staff also reported a separate, tiered engineering assessment option priced at $14,000 (described in the meeting as Terra Firma’s “tier 1” or level-1 seismic assessment). Councilors said they preferred to receive the free assessment first, then revisit whether to budget for the paid $14,000 assessment at a later meeting.

Discussion flagged uncertainty about grant eligibility: staff had inquired whether seismic rehabilitation grants applied to City Hall but were told those grants are typically for first-responder facilities (fire stations, police) rather than general municipal buildings even when the building is designated as an emergency operations center. Council members asked staff to confirm whether future grant programs would accept a fresh assessment or require a report within a particular date range.

No purchase order or contract was approved at the meeting. Councilors instructed staff to arrange the Terra Firma site visit and to return with Terra Firma’s findings and a recommendation on whether to proceed with the paid seismic assessment.

The discussion included references to the basement and retrofitting plans for an emergency operations center and to prior work on the community center by the same firm.