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Controversial city hall nearly finished
By AMY WIMMER, Times Staff Writer ST. PETE BEACH -- Workers are installing the drywall and leveling the parking lot. Soon, a granite tabletop will be mounted on the dais in the City Commission chambers, a gift from a local benefactor who wanted to upgrade the new City Hall but didn't want taxpayers to pay for it. St. Pete Beach City Hall, controversial from its inception because of a unique land deal that allowed a hometown developer to build it without bidding on it, is nearly complete. Its builder, St. Pete Beach resident Paul Skipper, is proud of the work, from the waterfront views afforded to the city manager's office to the waterfront park made possible by demolishing the old city hall. "It's pretty spectacular," Skipper said. The city staff is looking forward to moving into the building with its bayfront vistas in the next month or so, with a grand opening scheduled for sometime later this spring. The unusual arrangement has Skipper owning city hall until the City Commission votes to accept the $3.4-million building, the second-largest single expenditure in city history (after the reclaimed water system.) But Skipper refutes rumors that he is rushing to finish the building so current commissioners -- the same ones who signed off on the deal less than a year ago -- can accept the project before the March 12 city election. "It doesn't really matter to me," Skipper said Thursday as he showed a reporter around the building. It's who Skipper isn't letting inside his building that caused the latest stir around St. Pete Beach. Earlier in construction, the building was available to just about anyone who asked and was willing to wear a hard hat, from elected officials to city staff to the occasional resident. That changed a few weeks ago when a resident touring the building claimed that Skipper wasn't using the right electrical wiring. The question prompted new criticisms from a group of residents who believe the city didn't do enough to protect itself in its negotiations over the new city hall. Mike Knotek, the director of community services, assured critics that the builder has cut no corners on the building, the electrical wiring inclusive. One resident, Jim Nelson, a former member of a city committee that reviewed specifications for city hall, wanted to see for himself. Skipper said no. "Jim Nelson happens to be one ... who went to the state attorney's office to say what we're doing with city hall was illegal," Skipper said. "Generally, they're not going to get the red carpet." As St. Pete Beach heads toward its city election, Skipper's refusal has brought criticism from at least one candidate, Bill Allard, who is running for a Commission seat. "It's very disturbing the way the inner circle is allowed to be inside the building, and now it's, "Let's hurry up and cover it up so we can't see what's going on,' " Allard said at a Commission meeting Tuesday night. Meanwhile, commissioners have turned their attention to the building's interior. Particularly interested in the building's decor is Jim Myers, who has complained that commissioners are not involved enough in making final decisions about the building. "Decisions are being made which are not being told to us in time to approve them or reject them," said Myers, who added that he would rather see the commission make detailed decisions because "architects and interior designers tend to be a little bit more flamboyant" than the commissioners. "We're responsible." He learned in a newspaper article, for example, that the city is accepting local artwork for display at City Hall. He questions how the work will be selected. "We have to be careful what we put on the walls. It's going to be too beautiful of a building to mess up," Myers said. Interior designer Lynne Hawthorne of Contract Design Group, hired by the city to handle the building's decor, said the city hall budget contained no money for art. "Doing this was, to our mind, a real win-win, with allowing people to use that space, which is essentially their space," Hawthorne said.
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