Money cleared for City Hall art

By Matt Batcheldor | The Olympian • Published March 18, 2008

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OLYMPIA – The City Council agreed Tuesday night to spend an estimated $265,000 on art for the new City Hall and conduct a statewide search for artists.

In other business

•Property purchase: The Olympia City Council agreed to pay $880,175 to buy the old state Department of Transportation property at 318 State Ave. N.E., next to the Intercity Transit station, a site that could be used for a new parking garage. The city is considering two other locations for a parking garage. One is the Manium nightclub property and parking lot behind it, along Jefferson Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues. The other is the state Department of Personnel property bordered by Legion Way and Seventh Avenue and Adams and Jefferson streets. A decision is expected this year.

•Grants: The city will distribute $389,749 in federal Community Development Block Grants to charities and for other community concerns.

The move came after a spirited debate — not about whether to buy the art, but whether it should be limited to artists in Olympia, the state or the nation.

The city plans to build a new City Hall on the site of the former Safeway at 609 Fourth Ave. E., on property it has agreed to buy. The cost is estimated at $40 million.

The $265,000 set to be spent on art amounts to 1 percent of the estimated $26.5 million construction budget for the building. Artists statewide would be considered for exterior art, but $50,000 would be set aside for local art for inside the City Hall.

City Manager Steve Hall recommended that the city do a national search for artists, but Councilman Jeff Kingsbury had reservations.

"We have an opportunity that is probably once in a lifetime," he said, adding later, "I am concerned about our City Hall having a piece of artwork sitting in front of it ... from Clearwater, Florida."

Councilwoman Rhenda Strub made a motion to approve the artwork but require that it all come from Olympia artists. Nobody seconded her motion.

Councilman Craig Ottavelli made a motion for the statewide search, and it passed unanimously.

City ordinance requires the city to spend 1 percent of construction projects on art if they are "visible and usable by the public" and exceed $500,000, according to a staff report. An example of required art is on the new Fourth Street bridge, which has mosaics.

Artists must pass a screening process that involves a five-member advisory panel, an independent jury, an administrative interview, a review by the city's Art Commission and City Council approval.