Design study for additional courthouse stairway to be conducted

Members of the Onaway City Commission approved a proposal for professional design services to assist the city with a preliminary design study for an exterior stairway addition to the Onaway Courthouse.

The motion at Monday?s city commission meeting, which was approved on a 3-2 vote, hires Saginaw architectural firm Wigen Tincknell Meyer and Associates to examine the feasibility of a project to construct an outside stairway on the courthouse that city officials believe would be a vital step in opening the third floor.

The third floor is currently being used for storage and is off limits to visitors.

Why outside of the building for an additional staircase? Because there is no other place to construct a stairway inside the nearly 100-year-old landmark, and the state building code requires a second stairway.

There is an elevator from the ground level floor to the main floor, but the bedrock under the building is not suitable for construction of an elevator to the third floor. Space also is an issue.

The library on the lower floor is bursting at the seems, and officials from the Presque Isle District Library would prefer to have additional space rather than give it up. In addition, city officials do not want to lose any office space enjoyed since the move from State Street to the courthouse.

?WE MUST determine location, and whether part of the stairway would be enclosed within the existing building,? stated Hefele. ?We have building code issues that must be addressed, and we must get the (State Historic Preservation Office?s) blessing.?

The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) will request that any outside staircase be a design that would be ?clearly different? than the look of the outside of the building.

The architectural firm anticipated that costs would be about $6,000. A letter to the city stated that final costs would be depended on requirements set forth by SHPO.

The city commissioners voting for the study cited the need to finish the restoration of the courthouse. Commissioner Mel Perkins said he wanted to move forward with it, but newly elected city commissioner Jerry Robinson, is concerned the city might be throwing away money on this project.

?I know we cannot make that (third floor) ADA accessible,? said Robinson. ?I just don?t feel we should spend money trying to get there, when it is not going to be ADA accessible.?

To meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, any organization on the third floor which needed to meet with someone with a disability would have to do so in a main floor conference room.

Hefele would like to see the courthouse be ?truly a public building? and possibly lure other government functions to the third floor, such as the Presque Isle County Housing Commission and/or the County Development Commission.

The city manager also preferred to not leave the third floor ?in the shape that it is in.?

Robinson mentioned that there is available office space in Onaway. Robinson and commissioner Brad Porter both voted ?no? on the motion.

IN OTHER business:

? On a vote of 4-1, a motion for an EDU assessment amendment was approved for Subway and the new bakery at two-and-a-half EDU?s, while both car washes were set at 10 each.

? Local resident Harold Schmidt asked the city to consider a drive up window for city customers, or a box outside of the building for people to pay their bills.

? Robinson asked that a motion from the previous meeting, to change the date when a

newly elected board member is to begin serving his or her term, to the first meeting in January, be reconsidered. Currently, the elected official(s) begin serving immediately.

The matter ultimately would have to go before the voters sometime next year, because it would require a change to the city charter.

? The Onaway Motor Speedway submitted the lowest bid for the International plow truck. The winning bid was $2,001.50. No bid was received on the Ford plow truck. It will be readvertised with a lower minimum bid.

? Christmas bonuses of $75 each were approved for four part time workers.

? Since the first commission meeting in January falls on New Year?s Day, which is a contractual day off for all employees, the meeting dates for next month were changed to January 8 and 15 at 5:30 p.m.