City Council Authorizes Office Leases, Cost Estimated at About $2 Million Yearly

Corvallis City Councilors on Monday directed City Manager Mark Shepard to seek and sign a lease for staff offices outside City Hall; officials see the move as a short-term fix for the city’s space shortage.

The motion passed 6-3, with Councilors Charlyn Ellis, Jim Moorefield and Paul Shaffer opposed. It lets Shepard sign a lease of up to five years without additional council approval.

Ellis said elected officials should have the final say on interim space. “We want the community to feel like their voices are being heard,” she said. “Because they clearly are not.” Shepard said the city had made materials and decisions available online for six years, and that “there’s a lack of knowledge about facilities.”

The vote comes as the city faces an $8.1 million biennial operating gap and mounting pressure over its aging facilities. Shepard noted that efforts to fund improvements failed in 1985, 1995 and 2003. The current City Hall was built to house a Methodist Church in 1924, it became a “temporary” City Hall in 1948.

A proposed 2022 plan calls for a roughly $200 million civic campus that would include new offices and police facilities. Shepard said consultants estimate its cost rises $1 million for every month construction is delayed. The City now estimates it would take $16 million yearly to pay for the project. The civic campus has been controversial among Corvallis taxpayers and some council candidates who say the budget gap is the more pressing need.

Earlier this year, the city studied instituting new payroll and income taxes to cover construction debt and the operating shortfall. Together, those yearly costs total about $20 million.

The city council could approve the new taxes without voter approval. This fall’s candidates for mayor and council are divided on the subject, and it has become a hot-button issue in each of those races.

Lease rumors, Shepard’s Answers

Talk around City Hall holds that Shepard expects to spend about $3 million a year on the new leases. The HP campus has been mentioned. So, we asked Shepard. He won’t confirm or deny the city is looking at the HP campus, but disclosed the city is looking at “multiple” options.

He also said the cost will likely be closer to $2 million yearly.

Also at Monday’s meeting, outgoing Ward 9 Councilor Tony Cadena proposed that the Council approve hiring an outside consultant to take over the task of public engagement; explaining the city’s revenue needs. Council approved unanimously.

By Chris Evenson. Steven J. Schultz contributed to this story.