By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members on Tuesday approved the hiring of an architectural firm to begin the first phase of the rehabilitation of the city’s historic Paul Poag Theatre.
Under consideration was a resolution “to authorize and direct the interim city manager to approve a contract in the amount of $182,550 to Able City LLC, for phase one of the Paul Poag rehabilitation project.”
After City Secretary Mari Acosta read the heading of the agenda item, Mayor Al Arreola called for a motion on the resolution. Councilman J.P. Sanchez made the motion to approve the resolution, and Councilman Jesus Lopez Jr. gave the second.
After the motion and second, Arreola asked, “Do we already have this in our budget, sir?”
Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez replied, “Yes, sir, and we do have members from Able City here in case there’s any additional questions.” Able City’s Ricardo A. Solis, principal-in-charge, and Frank M. Rotnofsky, founding partner, both approached the podium.
Lopez asked, “Based on the scope of work that I saw that you’re
going to perform and you gave a timeline, is that timeline precise and accurate, or will there be other issues and findings once you start the engineering, architectural services and design?”
Solis responded, first introducing Rotnofsky.
“The schedule that we reflected in our proposal is somewhat accurate. I think there may be some adjustments once we get into the actual assessment, but I think we feel like what we have in that schedule is fairly close to the time frame it’s going to take,” Solis said.
Arreola then asked if there were any more questions and hearing none, called for the vote, which was unanimous in favor of the resolution.
After the vote, Sanchez called out, “Let’s rock and roll” and clapped his hands.
City staff said after the meeting the first phase of the project could take up to 24 months to complete once the city has issued its notice to proceed to the company.
A letter from Able City to the city, included in the council’s informational packet, details work to be done under the first phase of the rehabilitation project.
That work includes a historic structure report and existing conditions survey in which the company will conduct a survey of existing conditions in and around the historic theater, perform a high-definition laser scan of the facility “that will be used to capture existing conditions as well as produce a three-dimensional model of the facility” and a historic structure and existing conditions report containing recommendations for proposed treatment of the building using U.S. Department of Interior’s preservation standards.
The letter also notes Able City architects will make a formal presentation to council detailing their findings and options and will plan a series of meetings with local performing arts groups and other stakeholders during the process.
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