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Council hears $125,000 armory bathroom upgrade; members debate broader master plan and safety fixes
Summary
Council discussed a proposed $125,000 bathroom and plumbing upgrade at the Armory to support rentals and emergency sheltering, safety concerns about box gutters and icicles, and whether to commission a multi-phase master plan (estimated $100,000$150,000). Staff will return with schematics and cost options.
City staff and council members spent significant time on proposed upgrades to the Armory and how those changes should be sequenced.
Staff (Presenter, speaker 4) introduced a $125,000 capital request described primarily as plumbing and bathroom infrastructure work to add showers and expand the female restroom to support senior events, rentals and emergency shelter operations. "The 1 25 is the upgrade for the armory, bathrooms to to include showers," staff said, noting the work could include tearing out old cast iron and running new plumbing.
Council members raised both immediate safety concerns and longer-term planning questions. One council member (Questioner, speaker 7) described dangerous icicle buildups during the last winter and urged prioritizing gutters and downspouts to reduce hazards; another said the building dates from the late 1800s (Staff member, speaker 6: "It's the late 18 hundreds"), arguing for care in any design changes to an older structure. Several council members favored a phased approach: a targeted short-term safety fix for box gutters and plumbing, followed by a comprehensive master plan.
Staff emphasized the tradeoffs: commissioning a master plan (estimated at $100,000$150,000) could change the scope and make some immediate fixes redundant, but doing only isolated repairs risks duplication and inefficiency later. "If council wants to do a master plan for this, we can look into that," staff said (Staff member, speaker 2).
Why it matters: the Armory is used for community programs, rentals and is designated as an emergency assembly point for schools; plumbing, ADA-compliant showers and locker-room reconfiguration affect the buildings usability and public-safety readiness.
Next steps: staff agreed to get schematic designs and phased cost estimates and to return with options that minimize the risk of double-spending while addressing urgent safety items first. No binding decisions or votes were taken at the workshop.
