Oshkosh council hears update on citywide facility-condition assessment

At a workshop, the Oshkosh City Council received an update on a citywide facility condition assessment that reviewed 31 municipal buildings and outlined priorities for maintenance, replacement and possible consolidation.

The assessment, completed this year by CUNY Architects in coordination with city staff, used the 2021 report as a baseline, added site visits and staff interviews, and applied a scoring system to rank work needed across facilities. John Wallenkamp of CUNY Architects told the council that "in summary of all my years of doing this, the City of Oshkosh, I feel, is sitting very well with facilities and how the facilities are in condition." John Urban, the city's general services manager, and Mike Blank, facilities project coordinator, joined the presentation.

Wallenkamp said the team reviewed 31 facilities (one—Station 1514—was not scored because the building is county-owned but occupied by the city) and assigned combined scores that highlight priority needs. The report's combined scores ranged from a low of about 31 points to a high of about 128: the Sawyer storage/joint public safety training facility received the highest score (128), City Hall scored roughly 95, and the Transportation Main Facility scored about 79. Wallenkamp noted the scoring system uses a 1–5 scale for condition categories (with newer buildings scoring low and critical needs scoring high) and adds priority factors to produce totals.

Councilmembers and staff discussed what the results mean for capital planning. Several councilmembers thanked staff for ongoing maintenance and noted that, because many buildings are in generally good condition, the city has runway to consider longer-term, creative options such as consolidation of space and stronger coordination with Winnebago County facilities. One councilmember referenced an Edvard Anderson study of the Transportation facility as additional context for that site.

Rebecca (city staff) told the council the administration is completing a grant-funded "sun study" to evaluate rooftop solar feasibility on city-owned structures; she said that draft results include current-utility-cost considerations and that the next phase will produce more detailed analysis of cost savings and possible state and federal funding. "We are in the process of completing ... a sun study, to see about the feasibility of solar on city owned structures here within the city of Oshkosh. It's a grant paid study," Rebecca said.

Multiple councilmembers and staff discussed the value of depoliticizing building-priority decisions by creating a standing budget or "bucket" that facilities staff can allocate according to ranked need, rather than having elected officials pick individual projects. Staff said they expect to bring the assessment findings into the regular capital-improvement-plan (CIP) process and continue discussions with county counterparts about consolidation opportunities; they did not request or receive a formal vote or directive at the workshop.

Next steps include folding the assessment into upcoming CIP discussions, pursuing more detailed studies where warranted (including funding requests if needed), and continuing outreach with county facilities staff about potential consolidations and shared use. The city presentation and related documents will be included in future capital-process materials for council consideration.