By Gene Kemmeter

The Stevens Point Common Council indicated Monday, April 16, that the City Garage will be moved out of Bukolt Park in the future.

The Council voted to end a study by Bray Architects about the potential relocation of the Engineering Department to the City Garage.

Bray is working on plans for a new City Hall, but Scott Beduhn, director of public works, asked for a study to move the Engineer Department to the City Garage so he could better coordinate his staff, which includes the Street Department.

The Board of Public Works recommended the study at its Feb. 12 meeting, and the Council recommended the study Feb. 19.

The Board of Park Commissioners pointed out March 7 that the Comprehensive Outdoor Park Plan calls for the City Garage to

vacate Bukolt Park and recommended that the proposed addition be rejected, a recommendation the Council accepted March 19.

The Council voted 9-0 to halt the study, with alderpersons Cindy Nebel, District 3, and Mary McComb, District 9, excused.

Mayor Mike Wiza pointed out that conflicting actions and asked the Council to make a decision one way or the other whether to add on to the City Garage. He said he doesn’t like the idea of the Street Department being in a park, but the city has invested in the site in the last decade by repainting the building and putting in a new salt shed.

“We don’t have the money to build a new Street Department. We’re close to the borrowing limits. I don’t want to put the city in

a financial situation. The public works director said it would be easier to do his job by being at the garage.”

Wiza estimated the cost of a new garage at $10 million-plus.

Tom Schrader, director of parks, recreation and forestry, said the city is talking about adding another facility to the garage, which

would just be another reason not to move.

The Council has talked about moving the garage from the park for decades, he said, but then moved a new City Hall ahead of the

new garage on the planning list.

Beduhn said the City Hall study asked about improving the efficiency of the Public Works Department and he wondered if moving engineering to the building for $200,000 would be better than building space for engineering in the new City Hall while saving money on the new facility.

Comptroller/Treasurer Corey Ladick said the city debt is going up in 2018 and will peak in 2019, dependent upon a number of

Tax Incremental Financing districts.

A new City Garage would have to move up as a priority and would take several years to consider.

“For the next two or three years, our plate is full as far as looking at capital projects,”he said.

Alderperson Meleesa Johnson, District 5, said, “It’s our goal to move streets to a more appropriate site, but it may be 10 years

out.”

She pointed out that engineering and the Community Development Department are important to have close to each other because they work together.