Rochester inventories city-owned properties

A complete inventory and needs assessment of city-owned properties was presented on Thursday, November 9, to Rochester City Council members during a special council meeting to discuss the plan. Rochester City Manager Blaine Wing said the facilities asset management plan is a multi-stage effort intended to assess and prioritize all city-owned properties, from municipally-maintained alleys to buildings such as the fire station and city hall. "We haven't gone through this type of inventory in the two years I've been here, and looking at records, I don't know if we've ever done such a comprehensive review," Wing said Thursday afternoon, prior to the meeting. "There are several stages to the plan. We are at the stage now where we've identified everything and will provide details about them. The next phase is to prioritize and put a cost to them, then we will look to council for direction." Wing said the future steps will include determining the levels of maintenance or repairs funded by the city, potential partnerships with other entities to help defray costs, or sell or vacate properties. Currently, there hasn't been any discussion by council about specific properties that could consider being sold or vacated. However, Wing said properties such as alleys or road ends could be vacated, with the property split and given to adjacent property owners. The study will eventually be incorporated into the city's long-term capital improvement plan and maintenance schedule. "All of this comes under capital improvement, with some under maintenance," Wing said of funding for managing city facilities. "We do some maintenance plans already for the stuff we are already doing, but this will be part of the overall capital improvement plan." The report to council included an inventory of assets, a condition assessment inventories, and identified land use agreements, licenses or contracts in place. The report also included detailed assessments of several facilities, including the Community House; Dinosaur Hill; Clothes Closet; City Hall; the cemetery; sewer lift stations; the water tower; water treatment plant; department of public works building; city-owned parks; parking decks and parking lots. "We hit on a couple buildings, such as the DPS, Community House and Dinosaur Hill, which have some more immediate needs," Wing said. The Rochester Community House, 816 Ludlow Avenue, has nearly $700,000 in immediate needs, according to the report. Those needs include roof and gutter replacement, insulation, siding replacement, deck repairs, interior wall and window replacements, furnace and water heater replacements and other repairs. Council's next step will be to prioritize maintenance and repair needs of the facilities in order to determine future actions.