Healdsburg looking at sales tax funds, needed repairs

Sometimes when it rains on the metal roof of Healdsburg’s Community Development Center, the city employees working inside can barely carry on a conversation.

The recent lack of rain has made it a little easier to conduct business, but with just one downpour, “you really could not hear yourself think when the rain comes down that hard,” City Manager David Mickaelian said Friday.

The Community Development Center behind City Hall, which houses planners and building officials, is just one of the city properties in need of repair and upgrades, as identified in a facility condition assessment report released last week.

The old warehouse space also has issues with its heating, air conditioning, gutters and water corrosion.

The report states that $605,000 is needed to immediately repair deficiencies in all city facilities; $1.8 million over the next five years; and more than $9 million will be required over the next 20 years.

The buildings include City Hall, the police and fire stations, the senior center, corporation yard, water treatment and wastewater treatment plants.

“This report showed us what we need to do to bring each of these facilities back to basic standards,” Mickaelian said.

The City Council at 6 p.m. Monday is holding a special meeting that could help determine how much money from a sales tax measure will go toward repairing the city properties.

The City Council is scheduled to receive a report on revenues from Measure V, the sales tax increase approved by voters two years ago, and consider how to allocate the funds in the coming fiscal year.

The half-cent sales tax generates about $1.5 million annually, and was established to help pay for street maintenance, police and fire services, economic development and deferred maintenance of public buildings.

The building deficiencies include lack of access for the disabled; heating and conditioning past its useful life; minor roof and plumbing problems; and security issues.

The Community Development Center needs almost $400,000 worth of work over the next five years, according to the assessment report.

Over the next five years, the Police Department will require almost $300,000 worth of work to address architectural, accessibility, mechanical, electrical and security issues.

The fire station is singled out for more than $465,000 needed in the next five years for similar issues.

And the Senior Center also has $65,000 in immediate needs and another $288,000 within five years.

“The kitchen has some significant issues,” Mickaelian said. The report identifies an out-of-date kitchen fan, vinyl asbestos tile, and too-high countertops, along with structural and electrical deficiencies.

The city’s corporation yard is another big-ticket item with $225,000 identified in the way of immediate needs, and another $185,000 over the next five years.

The estimates to fix the facilities’ deficiencies do not include design fees covering architectural and engineering work, permit fees, hazardous materials and seismic retrofitting.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.On Twitter@clark.mas

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the sales tax increase Measure V.