Monmouth City Hall Monmouth, Oregon

An initial evaluation of the City of Monmouth’s City Hall – originally constructed in the 1920’s – led to the conclusion that a replacement was needed. After design and construction documents were completed, the estimates on cost exceeded budget by over 60%. Otak was brought on as owner’s representative to set a path forward for resolving the cost issues and to drive towards efficient completion.

Adding Efficiency to a Highly-Collaborative Value Engineering and Redesign Process

For nearly a century, the City of Monmouth had utilized a City Hall which was previously the city fire station. In its lifetime, the building developed issues including a leaking roof, fragile clay tile exterior construction, and staff squeezed into every possible space. The entire second floor and restrooms were only accessible by stairs while file storage in the basement would flood with a power loss. The new building was designed to address these issues while adding a number of features focused on sustainability, safety, and operational efficiency. Those ranged from solar power augmentation and electric vehicle charging stations to access security systems, seismic stability, and an elevator among other ADA-compliant elements. In an effort to add sustainable elements to the redesign process, locally-sourced materials are utilized in cross laminated timber (CLT) found throughout the structure. Through a highly-collaborative value engineering and redesign process, the site would also maintain its historic significance from old growth trees and parts incorporated from the Veteran’s Hall. Although the size of the building ultimately required adjustment, and the budget required supplementation, the final project delivered all the original scope in a slightly restructured format.