1/18/07 Legislators talk about health facility options

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

Ideas include keeping the current plan to build on south Main Street or looking at other available sites.

For the first time since neighborhood outcry and shrinking support from elected officials pressed many legislators into questioning the county’s decision to purchase property on south Main Street for a proposed public health facility, legislators met Thursday to publicly discuss the proposal.
A meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee that drew 15 of 19 county legislators saw a wide variety of ideas discussed, including pushing forward with the project while working to accommodate the public, keeping the property and preparing it for resale and looking at other locations for the facility.
While concerns were raised about the cost of backing out of agreements to purchase nine parcels on south Main Street for $894,000, the general consensus seemed to be that, even if the county is contractually locked into the agreements, it still has options.
Committee Chairman Ron Van Dee (D-5th Ward) kicked off discussion by pointing to other properties potentially available for purchase, including the former Wickwire building on south Main Street, property on River Street behind the Hampton Inn, and unnamed properties in Cortlandville.
Van Dee also, after the meeting, restated his intent to, at the Jan. 25 session, call for a reconsideration of the December vote to purchase the property. Should a reconsideration pass, it could come at a cost to the county, which would be breaking its contract with the owners of the properties, County Attorney Ric Van Donsel said.
This prompted some legislators to seek ways to both keep the property and look for other options for the public health building.
“I’m perfectly happy owning this property,” said Legislator Carol Tytler (D-3rd Ward). “I think now we should step back, see what else might be available, and very publicly and openly weigh the pros and cons of each option.”
Legislator Merwin Armstrong (R-Cuyler, Solon and Truxton) suggested that the site could be used to house the local office of the state Department of Motor Vehicles, while Legislator John Daniels (D-Cortlandville) suggested that the county could attempt to resell the property.
“I don’t think it was a mistake to purchase that property, even if we don’t build the mental health (office) there,” Daniels said. “I think it might make sense to demolish some of the less desirable buildings, get it all set to market, and we won’t necessarily lose money.” Still, other legislators were reluctant to believe that it was cost-effective to consider other properties for the building at this point. “Maybe that’s not the best place for a mental health building, but once the word’s out that we’re looking at other properties, the costs are going to go way up, and that’s what scares me,” said Legislator Tom Hartnett (D-4th Ward).
County Administrator Scott Schrader agreed, saying one potential property he had looked at had been sold a few years ago for $22,000, but once the county’s interest was made public, it had a price tag of $250,000.
“I think that’s proof that the way we handled this was appropriate,” Schrader said, referring to complaints that the county had kept purchase offers for the properties secret until days before it was to vote.
Meanwhile, not everyone was willing to write off the south Main Street site for the public health building.
“I still think that’s the perfect spot for it — I think it would go a long way towards cleaning that block up and helping that area of Main Street,” said Legislator Danny Ross (R-Cortlandville). “I think if we could scale the designs back a little bit, maybe look at putting the parking somewhere else, and then put a nice park or something as a buffer, people in that neighborhood would be happy with it.”