5% of thirty million (and that isn't counting the additional "city hall" building, you did know about that, right?) gets us to 1.5 million bucks. A lot of money for such a small market.
And you already admitted to now following the process: the architects were critical in condemning the "old" City Hall. Their "facts" were in great disagreement with those of many, many of their fellow architects that had nothing to gain and, in fact, always are loathe publicly to disagree or disparage their cohorts.
Sorry, but this debacle can be laid at the feet of many, and principal among them are the architects who misled, through commission, omission, or just plain blinded-by-greed stupidity.
At this point, Charlie, it's time to pull the plug on the whole bloated scheme and move to occupy EWEB. It's the only sane alternative. Of course, that's a key word, sane. Nothing meets that definition in city affairs over the past Kitty-led years.
When Kitty leaves, Ruiz should follow closely behind.