Among other things, one of the possibilities floated for the city’s courthouse project is a new chambers for the Lake Havasu City Council.
Apparently, the current chambers, located in a large meeting area within the police department, has always been considered a temporary home for the city’s business to be conducted. It has been used this way since the 1990s.
A new, 2,600-square-foot meeting space for the council is being included in the design for the city’s new courthouse. If it’s included, it would add just under $1 million to the cost of the courthouse project, which already costs more than city officials first estimated.
The City Council hasn’t voted to move forward with building the new chambers. Right now, it’s just being included in the design.
But we can save the city a little time, and a whole bunch of money: Abandon this exploration. It’s unnecessary, and will ultimately be too costly, while the city has plenty of other, more important financial obligations.
The only reason to consider moving City Council meetings is if the police department needs to expand. In a growing community, that’s a very real possibility, but there are currently no public discussions of facility expansions for police.
The council’s current meeting space appears to be adequate for current and future needs. Sure, it can get a little crowded when there’s a hot topic being discussed, but it’s more than sufficient to hold the seven council members, various city staff and the half-dozen gadflies who attend every meeting.
When those crowd-inducing topics do come up for discussion, the city already has options for larger spaces — it can hold a meeting in the city-owned Aquatic Center, or it can make use of the performing arts center at Lake Havasu High School. Online streaming has also helped make City Council meetings way more accessible to a wider audience.
The Council doesn’t need a larger meeting space. Invest in something else and leave the space for the courts to grow.
