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Council discusses Brick Market HVAC bids, OER grant and public restroom access
Summary
Councilors and staff reviewed bids and a $229,000 Office of Energy Resources grant tied to geothermal/HVAC work at the Brick Market, discussed whether restrooms should remain publicly available and considered the Newport Historical Society's role in lease negotiations.
Councilors pressed staff and department leaders about a planned HVAC and restroom upgrade at the Brick Market building, where a $229,000 Office of Energy Resources (OER) grant has already been applied to design and wellhead work.
"Part of the $2.29 is funding the design services, and the rest was for the well work," said a staff member working on the project, describing grant expenditures; staff estimated about $65,000 remains in the OER award after design and wellhead work.
Bids for the full project, including restroom accessibility work and a geothermal/HVAC replacement, came in at roughly $6.25 million for the overall package, staff said. Councilors asked whether the Historical Society — which is negotiating a lease with the city for the building — would contribute to HVAC costs. Staff said lease negotiations will address contribution but that the Historical Society is unlikely to pick up the entire replacement cost.
Councilors also raised whether the building’s restrooms should remain available for the public. A staff member said the Historical Society’s preference is to limit signage advertising the restrooms while making them available to museum visitors; another councilor urged that the availability clause be included in the lease. "I would like that stipulation in their contract," one councilor said.
Staff told the council that the OER grant is restricted to geothermal work and cannot be freely redirected to restroom improvements. They also said some work paid with the grant included pre-contract design and reuse of existing wellheads, which reduced overall anticipated replacement costs.
Councilors asked staff to provide clearer tables showing grants and projected lease revenues for specific projects. Nolan said the detailed schedule (Table 1) breaks out grants but that projected lease revenues were not included and would be added upon request.
No binding decisions were made at the workshop; staff said more detail would be provided as lease negotiations and bid review continue.
