City, DDA agree to front money

Old DPW building renovation moves forward; naming rights?

 

IMLAY CITY — After receiving word that partial funding in the form of a $100,000 grant had been rejected for the renovations of the former DPW garage, Imlay City officials pledged to look for other sources of revenue.

At the May 20 city commission meeting the topic was discussed once again.

“I think it is something worth looking in to,” City Manager Craig Horton told the commission. “The bid for the work that is planned was very good and we won’t get pricing any lower than what we have quoted, if you decided to wait. Personally, I think it’s very worth while to try and get something worked out and continue to look for grants and other funding avenues.”

The city and the Downtown Development Authority had agreed to give $50,000 each and were counting on the $100,000 grant to cover the majority of the projected $208,000 costs.

DDA Executive Director Christine Malzahn updated the commission at the meeting, saying the DDA board had recently decided to pledge another $50,000, contingent on the city agreeing to do the same.

There was a general consensus amongst commissioners and Horton to match the DDA’s second offer, while continuing to seek funding that could reimburse each entity in the future.

“We’ve been looking at alternative grants, other ways to maybe help cover the costs,” Horton said.

There are plans to renovate the old DPW building on E. Third St. complete with a new roof, steel siding and infrastructure upgrades inside, including overhead glass doors.

Later during the former DPW building renovation discussion, Horton threw the commission a curve ball with news of another idea that could help with raising funds.

“I had a phone call from someone who wants to stay anonymous, who was inquiring about what it would take to secure naming rights to the building in exchange for a sizeable donation. Is that something the commission would consider?”

Horton said the conversation on the phone was very preliminary with no dollar amounts discussed.

“I told the caller I would check with the commission and see if they were willing to explore that option, and if they were, I would get back in touch with them.”

Commissioners and Mayor Barbara Yockey appeared to like the idea the more it was discussed and although there were a lot of unanswered questions still, they asked Horton to follow up with the caller and try to find out what the parameters of the offer were.

“This is strictly for the naming rights,” Horton told the commission. “Nothing to do with the cost of renovations. However, if the offer was to be quite substantial, we’d certainly look at reimbursing the city and DDA for a portion of their contributions.”

With the committing of additional funds, Phase 1 of the work is expected to get underway in the next 30 to 60 days. Steel and glass doors are being ordered due to shipping time and to lock in prices.

Contractors have said they can only give quotes on material seven days out, due to constant increases in prices. Tanis Construction was awarded the winning bid.

In other commission news, contract negotiations between the city and city manager came to an end when the commission voted to approve Mayor Yockey to sign the new four-year agreement.

As had been the case in other special meetings, the decision did not come without some negativity as Commissioners Joe DeLuca and Al Ramirez both voted no on the motion to support the signing of the contract. Tom Blount, Bob Tanis, Luke Stempien, Stu Davis and Mayor Yockey voted yes.

DeLuca and Ramirez had said they would have liked more time to digest the document and questioned several items in the contract.

“It was a process, and I’m glad the commission gave me the go-ahead to sign the contract,” Yockey told the Tri-City Times after the meeting.

Horton added, “it’s over with now. I’m thankful and we have a lot of things going on in town now. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the commission and other departments in moving Imlay City forward.”