Wyatt Hansen, Project Engineer for Jones and DeMille, visited the Wellington City Council during their regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday evening to give an update on the building proposal.
Hansen stated that he wished to give a brief recap on where things are at following a walk-through of the building and what was initially viewed as far as a possible remodel. The first recommendation that Hansen gave was for the city to consider using Community Impact Board (CIB) funding, as that would be the best source of funds.
Historically, they have been the best for these types of projects. The unfortunate side to that, Hansen said, is that the city would have to be on the Capital Improvement List to obtain the funding.
Todd Thorne, Planning and Zoning Supervisor of Carbon County, stated that Wellington City would get significantly more funding if the building was considered historic and the choice was to do renovations to the building instead of a rebuild.
However, it was voiced that the desire is to rebuild and redesign the building to suit the city’s purposes.
In speaking with Sunrise Engineering, Wellington City was told that they could be given an estimate following a feasibility study, to which Hansen said that Jones and DeMille could do the same.
A recommendation was given to the city to really get a plan in place on what is desired overall from the project, as the CIB is more open to award funding if there is a set plan in place. Thorne also said that the county has mobile units that Wellington City could use while the building is torn down, if that is what is decided upon.
“So, our first step is to sit down and say what we need,” said Councilman Barney Zauss.
Hansen informed the council that Jones and DeMille could also assist in determining a longer-set growth and development to attempt to gauge space needed.
Hansen suggested that the city begins with an abatement study to determine if there are hazardous materials in the building, which would guide the decision on how in-depth the process would be. He also said that the abatement and feasibility studies could be hand-in-hand.
Councilman Andrew Peterson said that he believes the direction they should go in is to re-do the building entirely and have something to be proud of that, when people drive by, it would be evident that the city takes care of things.
Hansen told the council that, since they are not on the current Capital Improvement List, March of next year would be the time to get on the list. In June, the funding application would be submitted and the funding would be granted in October of 2025.
The earliest that construction could physically begin would be June of 2026. It was stated that the time left for this year can be taken to really solidify what the city desires.
Councilman Larry McKinnon said it is clear that the city has homework to do, such as solidifying who the planning team is going to be.