MOUNT VERNON — As administration officials plan for a new City Hall annex, justice center, and police station, council members seek answers. Specifically, where should the municipal buildings go, and how much will they cost?
Administration officials unveiled new conceptual plans from MKC Architects for the annex on Friday.
At Monday’s Land Use and Development Committee meeting, Safety-service Director Tanner Salyers reviewed the annex plans, construction timeline for the projects, and the administration’s “listening tour” dates for public input.
The timeline calls for the city to build the annex and police station simultaneously. Court staff will move into the annex temporarily while the justice center is built.
At their Nov. 25 meeting, council members approved a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for design services for the justice center, police station, and rehab work at the wastewater treatment plant. However, they did not authorize the administration to enter into a contract.
The administration will ask council to approve an RFQ for the annex in January.
“The annex has been missing when really we probably should have changed the strategy early on and did this first,” Salyers told council.
“And the reason for that is we can operate — it will be tight — but we can operate with the court in this building until we find a permanent home for the court. That’s why I think we’ve determined that the best foot forward is to put this as a priority project.”
Heartland Commerce Park
The Plaza Building houses the Mount Vernon Municipal Court, adult probation, police department, and the city law director’s office. Everyone agrees it is in bad shape. Municipal Judge John Thatcher is conducting an independent review of the structure’s integrity.
However, they disagree on where those services should move.
Thatcher said in a 2022 Knox Pages article that the new courthouse should be on a main thoroughfare through the city. Additionally, it should be in or near the Central Business District.
In the same article, Mayor Matt Starr said the administration proposed a solution to the courthouse location in December 2020. The property and structure were in the Central Business District, but the city council chose not to acquire them.
Salyers told Knox Pages on Tuesday the administration prefers to build the annex attached to City Hall and locate the justice center on nearby property.
“Where our properties are, that’s where we want to build our facilities,” he said. “If council does not like our proposal, then they need to articulate why.”
Councilman Mike Miller advocates a closer look at Heartland Commerce Park.
“All I’m asking is for the city government and court to seriously consider it,” he said on Tuesday. “We’re talking about a lot of money. We need more than saying we’re not doing it.
“I just want a serious, honest discussion about going there.”
Pizzuti solutions
In October, Miller, Salyers, Starr, Councilman Mel Severns, and Land Bank President Jeff Gottke discussed temporarily moving City Hall and municipal court into the HCP administration building while the annex and justice center were built. The land bank oversees HCP.
On Nov. 6, Miller, Salyers, Starr, Gottke, and three Pizzuti representatives toured the building. Pizzuti specializes in real estate development, marketing, and management.
Salyers said the idea was to “white box” a portion of the building, renovate it, and move city and court staff there. A “white box” essentially is a room void of everything in the interior except the required structural walls.
The city would pay part of the remodeling cost. When city staff moved to their final locations, the land bank would have a better building.
On Nov. 21, Pizzuti sent the city a “Next Steps” report. The steps included identifying funding sources and budgets, reviewing surveys and assessments, and conducting and scoring site evaluations on potential court locations.
The email accompanying the report included preliminary ideas for renovating HCP’s administration building. It stated that the ideas would “allow creation of a modern and efficient new public facility while also saving significant cost compared to your previously completed design concept. Most office support staff, probation, etc. could be located in renovated existing construction.”
It is unclear whether the design concept referenced is from DLZ last year or the current one from MKC.
The email also stated renovations at City Hall could allow for the consolidation of other city offices currently located in adjacent buildings.
Project budgets
Salyers said he could not give a price for the municipal building projects with the unknowns: when the city will build, the final designs, and the site location.
“These are the conversations that we need to have, and we need to be very honest with ourselves. And we need to do it quickly because frankly, these conversations should have happened 15 years ago,” he said during Monday’s committee meeting.
“Unfortunately, we have to make a really tough decision really soon, whereas we could have been making a string of less tough decisions when money was as cheap as it ever was.”
“If we’re supposed to make a quick decision and pull the trigger and say yes, this is a go, we have the right to ask where is the money coming from to pay for it,” Council member Tammy Woods responded.
The city applied for a $20 million environmental justice grant for the justice center and received a $2 million grant for the police station.
Additionally, council members appropriated $500,000 annually since 2018, knowing that the city would need to overhaul the Plaza Building or build a new structure.
On Tuesday, Salyers could not tell Knox Pages the current fund balance because former auditor Terry Scott did not separate the money into a dedicated account. New auditor Paul Mayville and his staff are still tracking Scott’s accounting process.
Council’s comments on the municipal buildings
Councilwoman Amber Keener said on Monday that council members know the Plaza Building’s condition is bad and that something needs to be done.
“[Councilman] Mel [Severns] and I were on a committee starting three years ago where we did talk about the fact that the annex needed to be first. But what has actually come of that has not been much,” she said.
“I’m glad to see design concepts,” she continued. “I don’t expect administration will have all the answers to these tonight. This is to let them know what we want to hear about moving forward.”
Councilman James Mahan appreciates that the police station is first on the listening tour.
“I think of all the things that we’re talking about, we know we have the land, we have the initial concept,” he said. “I’m glad the listening sessions are first, and if we can get the police out of there, then that gets one thing done.”
Councilman Miller agreed the city needs to take care of the municipal building as soon as possible.
“It would have been nice that if did [already] happen, but it didn’t happen,” he said. “This is, between this and the wastewater treatment plant over the next 10 years, probably one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive endeavor the city has accomplished.”
Miller also congratulated the administration on the listening tour.
“I think that is an absolutely wonderful, great idea to have that occur. … That’s a good step in the right direction toward transparency,” he said.
Keener will hold another land use meeting once the 2025 budget and project concepts are “more settled” so the administration can answer the council’s questions.
