Bowling Green City Council on Monday introduced legislation that would allow the city to conduct a
feasibility study that could lead to a new city building.
The study would be focused on the sites of the current City Administrative Services Building, the current
Wood County Senior Center, and an adjacent property on North Church Street.
“With the Wood County Committee on Aging well into its planning process to build a new facility on
city-donated land at 104 South Grove Street … and acknowledging that facility planning and site
evaluation takes time to comprehensively conduct, regardless of location, the administration recommends
that now is the appropriate time to begin the process of evaluating, studying, and planning for these
sites,” read a part of a legislative package document prepared for council.
“The evaluation is required to determine space requirements to support current operations as well as
assess the facilities currently located on these sites.”
According to the document, this year’s budget included funding to conduct an initial site evaluation for
the city-owned land at 304 N. Church St. (current city hall) and 305 N. Main St. (senior center).
This site evaluation will also include 316 N. Church St., which is a recently acquired home adjacent to
304 N. Church St.
In addition to the $50,000 allocated, funds were also approved in the 2019 utilities budget; the board of
public utilities, at its April 22 meeting, recommended action.
The current administration building was built in 1903 and was previously a library and school before the
city relocated its offices there in the mid-1970s.
The document enumerates a number of deficiencies in the current administration building, including
inadequate and uncomfortable space for public meetings, issues related to the nature of the building’s
layout, difficulties with handicapped accessibility, inadequate security for employees and visitors, and
impending maintenance issues including the need for a new roof and an HVAC overhaul.
“The city hall facility is at a point where changes must be made and the (request for qualifications) for
architectural and engineering services is the recommended starting point,” the document said.
Included in the scope of the services would be recommendations on a new building size and layout and
recommendations on a new site layout including a new building, parking, buffer zones and access.
Also involved would be an evaluation of the current senior center for existing deficiencies and costs to
correct those deficiencies. There will be an evaluation to see if that building could be reasonably
incorporated into a new building without sacrificing functionality, access, architectural aesthetics and
maintenance.
The city owns that senior center property.
“Note that this work is a critical foundation for future discussions and approvals on how best to move
forward,” the document continued. “If it is determined to move forward, these plans would be used for
future designs and considerations. Like purchasing a home, construction would be financed through debt
(and likely paid through the city’s Capital Improvement Fund and Utilities).”
The city building was involved in an agreement with the Bowling Green City Schools in 2010.
At that time, the school board passed a resolution and the city passed an ordinance, allowing the city to
purchase the 215 W. Wooster St. property, which is currently the site of the Wooster Green.
The city bought the property for $1.
At the time, the conception was that the city would build a new administration building on the site. The
agreement included a provision in which the schools could purchase the building at 304 N. Church St.
from the city for $1 once it was vacated.
Assistant Municipal Administrator Joe Fawcett, in an interview last week, said the city continues to own
the city building property.
“(But, the schools) still have an option (on the building) if they would like, technically,” Fawcett
said.
In 2017, the city donated the South Grove property to the Wood County Committee on Aging, he said.
“(City officials) talked with the district about this site and asked if they were still interested in 304
N. Church St., before we moved forward with any other major plans. At that time they indicated they were
not,” Fawcett said.
He said the city will continue conversations with the schools, and will likely have more formalized
action to resolve questions on the issue.
“We’ll work with the school district on what the most appropriate mechanism to do that (is),” Fawcett
said.
