10/10/07 - County considering future of south Main St. properties

(As Published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

The county’s General Services Committee Tuesday took a small first step toward determining what the county will do with recently acquired property on south Main Street. County officials stressed that any substantive discussion of uses for the property is still a long way off.

The committee instructed County Administrator Scott Schrader to begin meeting with county department heads to determine if the space could accommodate departments currently housed in the County Office Building, potentially clearing space for the cramped Department of Mental Health in the building.

The Legislature in December 2006 voted to purchase nine parcels along south Main Street for $894,000 in order to construct a building that would house both the Health Department and the Department of Mental Health.

The Legislature backed out of those agreements in January, prompting a legal challenge in which a judge ruled the county had violated a valid contract to purchase the properties.
At its Sept. 27 meeting, the Legislature voted to purchase the two nonresidential properties involved in the deal and attempt to reach settlements with other property owners.

But what the county will do with the two properties — the Moose Lodge property at 158 Main St. and Robbins Vending property at 159 Main St. — has still not been determined.

Schrader said the two properties alone did not offer enough space for a public health facility, but that potentially moving a department out of the County Office Building would free up space for the Department of Mental Health.

“That way we could still consolidate services between the Health Department and Mental Health,” Schrader said.

Schrader would not say at this point what options could work on the south Main Street site; however, he said he would be looking for a department that is “not so reliant on other departments for services they provide,” and one that “would be more attractive” to its users in another location.

Creating space for any county department would require new construction, he said.

“I think it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that the buildings will have to go,” he said of the structures purchased on south Main Street. “I hope that if we’ve learned anything based on experience (with the County Office Building), it’s that we shouldn’t take an existing structure and try to make it work for our own purposes.”

Legislature Chairman Marilyn Brown (D-8th Ward) said she would like to have proposals to consider by next month.