City of Anacortes photo
With one ‘no’ vote, the City Council Monday night approved a $60,000 contract to re-paint City Hall, which was last painted in 1991.
You might think painting City Hall some 23-years after last being painted was a no-brainer, but Council member Ryan Walters objected and voted ‘no’, suggesting the paint job should be pushed back five years. Walters’ point was the city faces an estimated $5-million expense in retrofitting the building in the coming few years.
Council member Brad Adams responded, “You paint a building to protest and preserve. This building needs to be preserved.”
What was unspoken whether a $5-million retrofit is worth it, or whether it might be more worthwhile spending that money toward a new City Hall.
A City Hall retrofit, now planned for 2017-2018 includes: $650,000 for preparation of construction documents for structural seismic retrofit of City Hall; $3.7-million for a combined seismic and fire protection retrofit; and $810,000 for the installation of an act ire protection system. City Hall was originally built in 1915 and added to in 1926.
The elastomeric paint on the body has faded and wearing thin and needs a new coat of paint. The contractor, H.S. Wold Co. address leaks during the prep stage before painting. The contract called for them to also pressure wash the roof before painting.
The color scheme, as shown in the photo, was chosen by the public from four schemes during an online vote.