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RECEIVE AND SELECT AN ARCHITECTURAL PROPOSAL FOR THE PROPOSED CITY HALL EXPANSION/RENOVATION PROJECT Kim Moore-Sykes, Assistant City Administrator Background: In June of 1999, Boarman, Kroos, Pfister, Vogel & Associates, (currently BKV Group), hired as the result of a formal selection process presented the City Council with a needs assessment study for the Ramsey City Hall. At the time it was determined that as the community was growing and changing, that the level of services and expectations would also increase. According to the needs study, this would certainly impact the City's need to hire additional staff to meet growing service expectations, provide adequate meeting spaces for the community and upgrade internal systems, such as the HVAC system, that were not constructed or designed to handle the additional demands that workspace addition or reconfiguration would cause. The original needs assessment did review future staff increases and the resultant need for additional space in City Hall to accommodate those increases. In reviewing the study, each department was looked at and staffing needs were projected out for five years. Since the 1999 study all departments with the exception of Administration have basically achieved the projected or exceeded the 2-year staffing projections. About a year ago, Administration reviewed its staffing needs and the department was reorganized to accommodate changing service demands and expectations. The Administrative Services Manager position was essentially divided into two positions, the Assistant City Administrator and the Human Resources Manager; the secretarial pool was dismantled and each department added their own department secretary; and a receptionist and a secretary left the City of Ramsey. Consequently, two half time positions were combined to create a full time secretarial position and a receptionist was hired. Last summer, most departments at City Hall had their workspace reconfigured to allow for additional staff. In most cases, this resulted in smaller workspace areas. The Finance Department had to relocate several filing cabinets to the basement in order to accommodate an additional workspace for the TIF Specialist; Community Development reconfigured their workspace to accommodate the department secretary and an intern; and Engineering was temporarily moved to the basement to accommodate another engineering position and a department secretary. Accessibility issues and convenience for residents required that the Engineering Department be eventually returned upstairs to the main level. This move upstairs was implemented when the City Council chambers were temporarily relocated to the new fire station in April. The Engineering Department also required available meeting space, which they did not have in the basement level of City Hall and the second half of the old Council Chambers now provides.