A summary of community events kickstarted the Cottonwood City Council regular meeting on a lighter note on March 6 before the council plunged into unfinished business.
A topic that has continued to pop up on the council’s agenda has been the purchase of a building at 635 N. Main St. known as Riverfront Commons. Council has been mulling over the idea of buying the building and renovating it into a new city hall. However, the council has cold feet in regard to making a decision.
City Manager Doug Bartosh has been working to find options that would allow council to purchase the property. One option is to enter into a trust with Northern Arizona Healthcare, which would provide council with the funds they need to purchase and renovate the building.
“We were working with Northern Arizona Healthcare to look at a possible deal in terms of buying the largest building down at Riverfront Commons, and the council was also briefed in kind of a financing mechanism commonly referred to as a trust,” Bartosh said.
In a meeting prior to the one on March 6, council asked if there could be potential partners that would lend a hand in relocating city hall with few expressing interest.
“County may have an interest, and the chamber still has an interest in becoming partners,” Bartosh said. “The other thing that we have also looked at which is on the agenda later in this meeting is about selling some property that the city owns including the building down here in Old Town to help with the cost of the Riverfront Commons.”
In an attempt to make headway on a decision, council dissected the details of what the NAH trust would entail.
Bartosh noted that entering into the agreement does not come at an upfront cost, though it may be a price too high for an end result with long-term goals council has been looking for.
“The preliminary discussion this far is that if we went with the trust concept, there would be a monthly cost starting out at approximately $10,000. That could be negotiable,” Bartosh said. “The downside of this is that if we’re only paying in $10,000, there may be some negative amortization to it … But the NAH would do the tentative improvements estimated at about $2 million. The cost of that would again go into the trust to be payed down as we sell property or pay down the principle.”
The trust would include the purchase of the building, the tentative improvement and also the furniture, fixtures and necessary equipment for the renovations. If council were to enter into the trust agreement, Bartosh said the council may be looking at an investment around $4.5 to $5 million.
Councilwomen Tosca Henry and Deb Althouse expressed similar sentiments regarding the necessity of generating extensive debt that would take years to get ahead on. The two posed the possibility of looking at different properties in town for the potential city hall, ones that are smaller, low in price and not focused on aesthetics but rather fiscal common sense.
“We also have some potential partners and we have avenues that we have not yet begun to explore,” Henry said. “I would like more information. I would like to continue the decisions, but I do think that we need as part of our due diligence to look at our other options as well. I’m not wedded to this building. If we can make it work it sounds like a great deal…. I don’t want aesthetic to trump fiscal common sense.”
Council put unfinished business to rest, to address new items on the agenda, by agreeing to consider other options beyond the Riverfront property and the trust with NAH.
Mayor Tim Elinski ended the discussion by noting that council needs to look to the future to achieve its long-term goals to expand the council’s spheres of influence and encourage economic development.
“I am very shy about debt myself, but I also know that we have been discussing this for decades, and at some point we’re going to need to incur that debt or start saving now so that in 15 years we can pay cash for all of this,” Elinski said. “At that point I think it would be too late; I think our needs would overwhelm us. It is an investment in a very nice building, and I also see it as investment of economic development of Cottonwood by vacating the properties that we have down here and encouraging that growth.”
Moving onto new business, several agenda items pushed the meeting forward on a lighter note. Noteworthy agenda items addressed included:
- Interviewing library advisory board member applicants.
Of the six total library board applicants, council interviewed four. The applicants were asked three questions regarding their interest and qualification for the position.
- Discussion and direction regarding the sale of cityowned property.
Council briefly circled back to the topic of funds to purchase a new building for the new city hall when it addressed item nine on the agenda, which was the discussion and direction regarding the sale of city-owned property. The council sifted through several parcels owned by the council to determine, which ones, if any, could be sold to help fund the purchase and renovations for a new city hall.
The next regular council meeting with be on held on Tuesday, March 20, at 6 p.m. Looking ahead, council will continue to work out the kinks of unfinished business, such as the purchasing and renovating of a new city hall.
Makenna Lepowsky can be reached at 282-7795 ext. 126, or email mlepowsky@larsonnewspapers.com
