Council approves 10-year lease for new, bigger City Hall

This structure on Haun Road, originally designed as a medical office building, will be the new City Hall. Menifee 24/7 photo: Doug Spoon

Looking a bit into the future, a spacious new Menifee City Hall is in the plans for the Menifee Town Center on Newport Road. Yes, the same center where a hotel, theater complex and other businesses remain only sketches on a drawing board.

Meanwhile, a city with a population of about 60,000 when it incorporated 10 years ago has grown to 92,000. With that growth has come increasing demands on city staff that is asked to handle increasing developer agreements, building permits, code enforcements, road projects and all the other things that come along with a population explosion nearing 100,000.

The current leased building at 29714 Haun Road (below left) is, according to city officials, bursting at the seams. Its 9,700 square feet was increased to 13,011 square feet by bringing in three mobile trailers used as offices. Even with that, an expanded city staff of 66 requires use of the Council chambers dais as work space and has insufficient work space and storage overall, according to a presentation to the City Council Wednesday night by Assistant City Manager Jeff Wyman.

The City has already approved 17 new positions to be filled by the end of the fiscal year. The question is where to put them in the years until the Menifee Town Center facility is built. The answer, as unanimously approved by the City Council, is to move City Hall to a new two-story building being constructed a couple hundreds yards south at 29844 Haun Road.

Funding for the future City Hall in Menifee Town Center -- planned as part of a civic center including a County courthouse -- won't be achieved in the near future, officials say, because of delays in state funding for the courthouse and other budgetary city needs. The City's lease at its current facility -- with rent set at $238,000 per year -- runs out in March 2019.

Acting upon earlier direction given to city staff to research suitable more spacious quarters, the City Council approved a 10-year lease agreement for the new Haun Road property, with the first year's rent set at $504,000 for the 24,000-square-foot facility. In addition, the City will be responsible for an estimated $930,000 in costs to make a building designed as a medical office facility suitable for use as a government facility.

Asked by council member Matt Liesemeyer why a 10-year lease was proposed, Wyman responded that the property owner required that length of a lease for a reasonable return on investment. Jim Lytle, president of the Rancon Group representing owner Ronald Hartley of Hub Enterprises, provided additional explanation.

Hartley also owns the current City Hall building as well as several other buildings in the Haun Road loop, Lytle said.

"We were asked to lower the rent to less than market rate," Lytle said. "One reason the lease is 10 years is that going to a lower rate in the beginning is required for a proper return on investment. We are happy to work with the city to do whatever we can to cut costs."

Wyman said there would be options for the City to purchase the building and sell it at a later date if the City Hall project in Menifee Town Center was ready significantly before the end of the 10-year period. Mayor Bill Zimmerman pointed out that the lease would be paid for with developer impact fees and would not come out of the general fund.

"Basically, developers are paying for us to have a better space to serve in," he said.

Mayor Pro Tem Lesa Sobek agreed that although the cost is substantial, a move is necessary.

"When I first looked at this, I was shocked at the price," she said. "Then I did some research. It's actually pretty reasonable and a common amount for a city facility like this.

"I'm a person who likes to live within our means, but I do see the need to have more room."

Zimmerman mentioned the employee recruiting aspect when one considers the look and space of the current City Hall.

"City Hall needs to grow commensurate with the size of the city," he said. "We're trying to bring in quality people. If I was being recruited by our city and I took a look at a work space that is a 4 by 8 cubicle with no place to roll out plans, I would probably look somewhere else.

"I don't see this as being extravagant. It's more spartan-like. It's just twice the size, which we badly need.

City officials and the builder hope to have the facility read by the end of the year.