By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
After five years of sitting cold and empty, the city of Yachats’ 501 Building has new occupants – its own staff.
City staff will finish the move Friday from the Yachats Commons, where they occupied 750 square feet of space and had recently spilled over into a nearby classroom.
The 501 Building – now officially the new Yachats City Hall – is 4,500 square feet, has a small conference/break room, space for the part-time city planner, intern and code enforcement officer, a secure office for the contractor handling finances, a small desk for City Council members and a Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy, should they stop by.
Because it was built as a bank 27 years ago, there’s even a massive vault to hold files and make anything else really secure.
The overall result of the move is a bright, professional-looking office with enough space during the coronavirus pandemic to allow city staff to comply with guidelines that keep decks at least six feet apart.
“Covid changed everything about how we could set up the office,” said Heather Hoen, the city’s community services coordinator who has overseen remodeling and the move.
The move is costing $166,000 this year, with $91,000 of that coming from a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the rest from the city’s reserves for capital projects. The city bought the building from Bank of the West in 2015 for $500,000, using $200,000 in lodging taxes to finance part of it and a loan from the city’s water fund for the rest. Except for storing books for the Friends of the Yachats Library’s annual sale, it sat empty since then.
Hoen has contracted out for a soon-to-be-installed metal roof, a heating system, commercial carpeting, interior paint and some electrical work. She even hopes to repurpose a leftover “Welcome to Yachats” entrance sign to fit in the old, deteriorating bank sign in the parking lot.
On Thursday, city staff were busy setting up desks and computers, and vendors were moving copy machines and other office equipment. Phone lines were scheduled to be transferred over Friday.
Until the City Council decides otherwise, coronavirus restrictions will keep the new office closed to walk-in traffic by the public. People needing to see staff can make appointments.
Bills can also be dropped off to deputy recorder Kimmie Jackson, whose desk sits adjacent to the former bank’s drive-up teller window – which still has a functioning transaction drawer.
City council meetings – when they resume in-person sessions – will still be held in the Commons.
Yachats bought the building thinking it would be the new home for the city library. But after two years of discussion by city and library committees, the Library Commission said turning it into the library would be too expensive – more than $1 million.
Now, library supporters are seeing how it can expand the current building on West Seventh Street using bequests and grants.
After the Library Commission rejected the move, past and present city councils said turning it into City Hall was the best option as staff outgrew the offices in the Commons.
What to do with empty Commons offices
Now, the next big question will be what to do with the vacated space in the Commons building.
The move of city offices to the 501 Building has already set off a series of discussions about what to do with the space the city is vacating.
The Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program, a nonprofit pre-school and after-school program, has already approached the city about leasing the vacated offices so it can move out of the Commons’ cramped basement. The program already uses two classrooms upstairs.
YYFAP would like to use the former city offices for its after-school programs – but not until next fall when hopefully it can conduct in-person programs and classes.
For pre-school, YYFAP must follow state child care guidelines which call for strict coronavirus protocols – and cannot resume in-person programs until Gov. Kate Brown lifts her state of emergency order, YYFAP executive director Alice Beck told YachatsNews.
The nonprofit this year received a $216,000 state grant to offer free pre-school to 18 low-income families. For now, those have moved online.
Beck said if and when the governor lifts her emergency order, then pre-school could start classes in the Commons – if the city opens the building.
“We have standards for cleaning that are extremely high,” Beck said. “We really value the health of the whole community and we would do everything we can to maintain the safety of that building.”
The request by YYFAP set off prolonged discussions at recent meetings of the city’s Parks & Commons Commission, which is the first line of citizen oversight of city facilities. Its decisions have to be approved by the City Council.
