At its Sept. 4 meeting, the city council directed city staff to take the next step in making the fellowship hall at the new North Campus Facility on Prospect Road usable. The large building, which has a capacity of 350 people, needs repairs and upgrades to bring it up to code and make it compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, improvements that must be made before the building is used by city staff or the public. Recreation department director Joan Pisani told the council that the work is estimated to cost between about $50,000 and $55,000.

The most significant costs, between $40,000 and $45,000, are for roof repairs, a remodel to make the bathrooms wheelchair-accessible and the addition of two new exits. Other costs include adding new or expanding existing concrete paths, adding a new sliding glass door and an automated fire extinguisher, and other, smaller repairs.

But those costs don't include other improvements that the council also seemed to consider necessary, such as the installation of an air conditioning system. Pisani said that could cost about another $45,000, according to a report by the architects who did the initial appraisal of the property. She also said that the city would need to purchase an industrial refrigerator, tables and chairs for the building, which could cost about $10,000.

Vice Mayor Evan Baker was emphatic that repairs to the removed roof on the building's overhangs need to be made right away, and Councilman Stan Bogosian said that an air conditioning system would be necessary on hot days like those from the previous week.

But they asked Pisani to look for the most cost-effective way to make the necessary improvements. Councilman John Mehaffey asked Pisani to look into purchasing used furniture from businesses that have closed down before buying anything new. And Bogosian wondered if the city couldn't organize a community painting effort, to gather volunteers and give the buildings a fresh coat that would make it look better.

Pisani agreed to look into cheaper approaches to improvements, and added that Saratoga architect Warren Heid agreed to create construction drawings and detail construction bids, at cost. The council gave Pisani the go-ahead to get started, because, as Mayor Nick Streit said, a building like the fellowship hall would be in high demand.

"There should be a huge level of use for this room," he said.