WASHINGTON — Renovate or relocate, it’s a decision lots of homeowners face.
It’s also a decision they share with Montgomery County’s Council. Housed at a building that dates to the 1950s and is aging badly, a council committee went over the options with with council staff at an April 22 meeting.
A plan to raze the building and rebuild with a price tag of $125 million dollars was dismissed as too expensive. Possible options include renovating the current building at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville. The price for that, according to Glenn Orlin, Deputy Administrator to the county council, would be $31.3 million dollars.
Other options include moving some of the county council offices to an old county courthouse building, which currently stands vacant. Several options that would make use of the courthouse and provide for additional parking run from $37 million to $51 million dollars.
During the committee session, the discussion illustrated the need for renovations: Council member Sidney Katz, who recently joined the council, said he was greeted during his first days with a substantial leak in his office.
“I tell people I had the only running water on the 6th floor,” Katz joked during the session.
David Dise, director of General Services added, “We like to call that a water feature.”
Katz called the aging building’s heating and cooling system “horrible” and said the fact that a number of the 1950s era bathrooms wouldn’t meet ADA standards was “an embarrassment.”
Noting that the council building is heavily used by the public for civic meetings, public hearings and presentations, Katz said, “This is the public’s building, and we need to make certain that they’re comfortable here.”
The county council is considering operating as well as capital budgets. Their fiscal work will wrap up in May.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
