Waukesha city officials are weighing whether to build a new city hall.
The current city hall is 51-years-old. City Administrator Kevin Lahner said the roof, plumbing and HVAC need repairs, and there are also problems with asbestos.
“Anytime you’re going to touch, for example, the plumbing, you have to deal with things like asbestos,” Lahner said. “That makes renovations extremely difficult and extremely expensive.”
“Leaving the walls of this facility in place and renovating it internally runs in the neighborhood of $15 million,” he said.
But he said the current setup might not be worth saving. City departments are right now spread out over three different buildings, which Lahner said can be an aggravation to customers.
“We want to have a building that serves the community’s needs as best as possible, and currently this building doesn’t do that,” Lahner said.
So Lahner said Waukesha could also choose to build a new city hall for between $18 million and $22 million dollars.
The project, just like the renovations, would be funded by city taxpayers through the issuing of bonds.
One option would be rebuilding at the current site. A second one calls for a new city hall to be built downtown along the river.
Lahner said several community meetings were held last fall, and more will come this year.
Ultimately, he’d like to see the city council decide on which route to pursue sometime this summer.
Construction would begin next year at the earliest.
“We have to carefully consider whether investing more in this existing building is worth it,” Lahner said.
