The state of the St. Joseph Department of Public Works building at 1160 Broad Street has been a long been a concern for Public Works director Greg Grothous, and city commissioners appear to agree after seeing for themselves the state of disrepair the building is in Monday afternoon.
Mayor Laura Goos said during Monday’s regular city commission meeting said the building is at the “end of its life,” and the city is ready to take on a proposal to either repair or replace the building.
“Pass that along to your team,” said Goos, to Grothous. “We’re not just complaining about an older building. … The employees don’t have the proper facilities for changing, for eating. They don’t have a proper break room. So, it’s not just that we’re complaining about like it needs paint or something. It’s woefully inadequate at Public Works.”
In September, the city commission tabled taking action on the building after a repair bid was deemed too high. After Monday’s tour, Commissioner Mike Sarola said he hopes action is taken sooner rather than later.
“I wanted to apologize to our Public Works staff that’s been dealing with an inadequate building for a long time,” Sarola said. “We had heard for some time from Greg about some of the challenges that Public Works faces with a really old building that’s been added onto multiple times. I think Greg did a good job of trying to explain the difficulties, but it did not do justice. … I’m only one of five commissioners, but my evaluation is that facility is entirely inadequate, and needs to be replaced.”
Sarola said right now they are on a fact-finding mission to determine whether the building will be torn down and replaced, repaired or moved to another location. Commissioner Brook Thomas added she would like to see the Public Works employees in a better work environment.
An informal proposal on the matter is expected within the next few commission meetings.
