THE CANYON WEEKLY March 16, 2011
Volume 2, Issue 11
News and life ~for our side of the mountain!
May your blessings outnumber the Shamrocks that grow. And may trouble avoid you, wherever you go.
City of Mill City Chooses Design Firm By Karen Widmer
Controversy Ensues over Choice and Process
Emotions ran high this past March 8 with support for a local builder as the City of Mill City presented their chosen Design/Build team for the new city hall. The firm, Precision Construction Company teamed with LRS Architects of Portland was chosen after a lengthy process by the Design/Build Committee members. They began with 16 candidates vying for the job in January, narrowed it down to six and finally three in February, where the proposals were open to public view at an Open House on Feb. 23 with 50–60 citizens in attendance. Of the final three was local builder, and long time canyon resident Jim Clough, owner of Gates based Benchmark Builders who teamed with the Vancouver based Wedgewood Architectural Services. The design Clough’s team presented, featuring a clock tower
and evoking a sense of a grand city center, was favored by many patrons who came and spoke March 8 in support of keeping the process, and the flow of money, local. One Mill City resident even offered to fund the proposed clock tower directly, as it’s cost was not figured into the presented budget. Despite public concern, the council voted to authorize contract negotiations with Precision Construction passing 4:2, with councilors Susann Heller, Ann Holaday, Fred Smith, and Mayor Tim Kirsch voting in favor and Councilors Justin Merrill and Thorin Thacker opposed. ―Not one aspect of the issues or questions raised at the recent council meeting had not already been intensely debated by the committee,‖ wrote Mayor Kirsch in an open (cont. back pg)
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