City staff are still negotiating with their insurance company, but if all goes well the rebuilt City Hall will be ready to go in 2014.Doug Allin, city chief administrative officer, gave a presentation of the proposed new plans at Grand Forks regular city council meeting on March 10.“Mr. Mayor, we’ve been working with the consultant through the insurance company to bring back the design,” said Allin to council. “We’ve been meeting with all our staff to see what all the needs are and making room for growth in the changes to City Hall as we rebuild after the fire.”Allin showed a number of slides showing the proposed design of the rebuilt building.“We presented the concept (at council) and we have some panels that are going out with the options for the public to put thought process in how we can serve the public better with our lay-out,” Allin said to the Gazette. “Once we complete that process, we will have the design drawings ready for tender.”The panels, which are poster boards with the design plans on them, will be placed at strategic locations throughout Grand Forks. Residents are encouraged to write suggestions on sticky notes and place them on the panels. “We want to make sure we can address what the public needs and wants to see for customer service,” he said. “So when they’re coming in and want to pay their bills, or come in and ask questions, or looking for service in different aspects.”Allin said one of the key pieces in rebuilding City Hall is consulting with the insurance company and insuring the city gets a fair deal.“We need to come to an agreement on depreciation, on the values of different products lost in the fire,” he said. “We’re working very closely with them. Things are going well in that respect. It just takes time to go through that process.”Allin said the City is in the process of getting a cost evaluation for the proposed plans for the rebuilt City Hall.“Right now, we’re acquiring the cost estimate on the design work and then we’ll make modifications to that,” he said. “The estimated cost of damage caused by the fire to City Hall was $650,000 by the insurance company. What we’re looking at right now is what is the actual cost of replacement. So then we’ll be in a better position to understand if there’s any difference in there and what is going to be the difference for us to rebuild.”Some of the proposed changes to the building including utilizing both door ways. He said they also want to find out from the public about whether there is interest in having automatic kiosks or computer stations to help customers.“What we’re looking at is what is it that the customers really look for from the City in respect for customer service,” said Allin.While modernizing aspects of the building are important, the City also wants to retain the classic look and design of the vintage building.“We’re trying to retain the classic feel of the community with a modern, contemporary feel,” he said. “It’s a combination of 2014 with the original construction of the building from the early 1900s. There will be natural products with the wood, recyclable products with the floor coverings, natural elements with the lighting.”The timeline for the start and end date of the project is dependent on several factors, said Allin, most importantly when they get the tenders out and the proposals they get back and what challenges they run into.“At this point, obviously 2014 is a goal for the City,” he said. “I think that’s realistic but we’ll know a lot more when we get the tender completed and we’ve gone out for pricing.” Allin said the city puts out the tender as one package and will look through all the proposals received deciding on a successful general contractor, who will oversee all the rebuilding and hire all the sub-trades.As to whether the city will necessarily hire a local general contractor or not, Allin said it’s definitely a factor that is considered when going through the bidders.“Our purchasing policy is that we look at the costs for the greenhouse gases, for the emissions, for the carbon footprint of someone coming in from outside of the city,” said Allin. “If everything is equal in the qualifications, then we would go to the carbon footprint and the out of town company would be challenged to move in their trades without creating a bit of a carbon footprint.”The city does look at other factors as well when considering a bidder such as cost and speed.“It depends on the proposal,” he said. “If a local contractor can get it done quickly and has a better plan than we’ll look at that for sure. It’s important that we evaluate the tenders as to our purchasing policy and go from there.”