Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-16-1971Record of Official Proceedings of the"Common Council of the City of Rochester, Minn., June .16, 1971 0 1 1 Minutes of a special meeting of the Common Council of the City of Rochester, Minnesota, held in the Council Chambers in the City Hall,.in said City, on June 16, 1971.. Upon motion by Willmarth, second by Strain, and all present voting in favor,, Alderman McNary was appointed as President pro tem. President pro tem McNary called the meeting to order at 12:51 o'clock P. M., the following members being present: President pro tem McNary, Kamper, Mayer, Strain and Willmarth. Absent: President Postier and Alderman Larson. The call of the special meeting was read and the same was ordered placed on file, the said meeting having been called for the purpose of considering the purchase of the Penney building for a library site and any other business the Common Council may deem. A letter from the Rochester Library Board submitting the action taken by the Board at a special meeting as follows was read: ."That the Library Board petition the City of Rochester Common Council to exercise the option to purchase the J. C. Penney building for $250,000 and to provide up to 2,500 square feet of the building for city Planning & Zoning and Safety Department offices for a maximum of 10 years at no rental but at a share of the cost of construction. Also the following letter from the State of Minnesota, Department of Education, was presented: "Dear Miss Goedert: This is in reply to your telephoned,inquiry about my opinion of the proposal to secure the'.T. C. Penney building on Broadway for adaptation for use as the main library of the Rochester Public Library. The following opinions conform to the guidelines adopted by our Public Libraries Section: 1. Side location. Excellent. In fact it could hardly be improved upon. 2. Adapatability of the building. My examination of the building indicates that there is ample space, and that it is highly adaptable to library use provided that it is engineered to the required strength of construction considering the desirable arrangements of library stacks and equipment for public use. 3. Wisdom of the move. If the engineering is suitable, it seems to me that the move is a desirable one. Quite a number of public libraries have solved their need for new buildings by securing and remodeling downtown business structures. If the building can be purchased for a cost which is reasonable in the terms of similar property in Rochester, I believe that the purchase would be a wise one. The Rochester Public Library desparately needs new space. The present building has been reviewed a number of times with regard to remodeling and enlargement. Neither remodeling nor enlargement would be feasible, except perhaps at anormous cost per square foot. Such restrictions do not apply to a business building of the tupe of the J. C. Penney Building. Its purchase for library use is an excellent idea. Sincerely yours, /s Hannis S. Smith, Director" Dr. Jennings Johnson, President of the Library Board, outlined the program. He said they had been working on trying to locate a new site for a public library for quite some time, the asking price on the Penney building was now $250,000 and was owned by the Reid family and the Penney Company; the present library building is located on property owned by the Mayo Foundation and the Mayo Foundation had now offered the amount of $375,000 to purchase it; they estimated between 200,000 and 300,000 to remodel the building of which they already had 0100,000 in the capital outlay -fund. Mr. -Tom Wolf a member of the Library Boarc also spoke and gave details on the transaction,he said the reason for request for action to be taken so quickly was due to the fact that their option on the Penney building expired 0 Record of Official Proceedings of the Common Council of the. City of Rochester, Minn., . June 16,- 1971 July 1, 1971. Mr. Vincent Huyber, chairman of the building fund of -the Library, said they had not had a lot of time to review this but that they had found that the building was structurally sound, was equipped with a sprinkling system and would work out vety well -for their needs. A resolution authorizing sale of the present library and purchase -of -the Penney's property on South Broadway and First Street Southeast was read. A -motion -was made by Kamper, second by Mayer, that the resolution be adopted as read. Alderman Strain said'he felt that the impact of this was great enough'that he felt the whole Council should be present before such action is taken.,- A 1potion was made by Willmarth, second -by Strain, that this resolution be tabled until this evening when a full Council can be present present; all/voted in favor. A motion was made by Willmarth, second by Kamper, that the Library Board be authorized to expend the $2,000.00 necessary on the option; all present voted in favor. Alderman Mayet said that one of the things that -the public will be concerned about is the aesthetic value of the library building -and he would agree with them but -the State Library Director, the Library Board and Librarian have indicated a need for a change and this is the most economical way to go. Mayor Day said he agreed that the whole Council should"be present and did not ordinarily agree to having meetings on such short notice but in this case he felt it was necessary; he said the public would be concerned about the aesthetic value of the building and they would also -be concerned about what they thought would be a loss of taxes on the Penney building which was about $25,000 per year. He,said by having the Planning Department and the Building and Safety Department move in this building, the City would be saving $12,000 a year rent which is now paid for the Summit Building. Upon motion by Willmarth, second by-Kamper, the meeting was recessed until 7:30 P. M. this evening; -all voted in favor. -- The meeting was called to order again at 7:30 o'clock P. M. with the following members being present: President Postier, Aldermen Kamper,- Larson, -Mayer, McNary, Strain, Willmarth. Absent: None. President'Postier said he Could not be at the meeting -this noon because he was in Little Falls, Minnesota, that he did not know that there was going to be a meeting and was not notified until about 10:30 this morning, if he had known about it ahead of time he could have been here. A motion was made byKamper, second by Willmarth, and passed unanimously that the resolution authorizing the sale of the present library and purchase of the Penney's property on South Broadway and First Street Southeast be removed from the table (this had been tabled at the meeting earlier today). Mr. Gerald Swanson, the City Attorney, then read the following quoted resolution: 1 0 1 0 Record of Official Proceedings of the Common Council of the City of Rochester, Minn., June 16, 1971 0 L • WHEREAS, the Library Board of.theCity.of Rochester has recommended to the Common Council that the present library facility situated on Second Street and Fourth.Avenue Southwest be sold to the Mayo Foundation for $375,000 subject to the City's continued use of the property for library purposes until September 1, 1972, and WHEREAS, the Library Board has also recommended to the Common Council that the City of Rochester purchase the so-called Penney's Building on South Broadway and First Street Southeast.to be used for library purposes, and WHEREAS, the owners.of the Penney property have agreed to sell the land and building with clear title to the City of Rochester for the total consideration of $250,000, and , WHEREAS, the Common Council has considered the recommendation of the Library Board an& the.needs of the City of Rochester for a centrally located library facility with adequate parking and sufficient space for the storage of books and other library needs of.the City. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council of the City of Rochster hereby approves the proposal to sell the present library facility to the Mayo Foundation for $375,000 subject to its continued use for library purposes until September 1, 1972 and authorized the Mayor and City Clerk to sign on behalf of the City of Rochester a contract for deed and deed conveying said property to the Mayo Foundation. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Common Council approves the purchase of the Penney property, including land and building, on Broadway and.First Street Southeast for library purposes for the total consideration of $250,000 and authorizes the.Mayor and City Clerk to purchase the property and sign such documents on behalf of the City as may be necessary therefor. BE IT[FURTHER RESOLVED THat the sum of $250,000 is hereby appropriated from the capital improvement fund and such other funds as may be available for this purpose. , Mr. Tom Wolf, a member of the Library Board, explained that about two months ago they had started going into this thing,.they found it to be feasible and of.course was made more attractive by the Council providing the parking area behind it; he said they went in and took options - 1/3 of the.property is.owned by Penney's and 2/3 by five different Reids, they were able to sign up Penney'.s.and 3/5 of the Reids with options that were very favorabl 1/5 of the remaining two Reids would sign if the other one would, it was made more . complicated because of a law suit that the Reid's have against Penney's; they finally got the fifth Reid.to come in with a very short option which.required them to.go back to the other Reid's and.Penney's and get them to agree to let us deal with this one differeitly;in order to get.the 4th Reid to do this it required an advance.payment; we would liked to have come to you.with a nice architectural drawing but were not able to do this because of the spot we were put.in; he said the reason for the urgency of this meeting and not waiting until later was to make the detail with the 4th Reid. He said he thought they had accomplished.their purpose.this afternoon and would know in a few days. Mayor Day -said the urgency for calling the meeting this morning on such short notice was that they.were afraid they.might lose the option and by -the Council authorizing_ the expenditure of the $2,000 they were able to go ahead; he said he too felt that the whole Council should be present when such a resolution is.adopted. Alderman Mayer read a letter he had received from Wm. D. Gernes of 1011 First St. N. W. opposing the sale of the library building. After further discussion a.vote was.called for bn the motion to approve the .resolution.and all voting in favor, President_Postier declared the resolution duly passed and adopted. Upon motion by Larson, second by McNary, and all voting in favor, the meeting was adjourned.— C1 Ci Clerk