Rogersville residents who felt they were deprived of an opportunity to voice an opinion on last month’s $1.2 million building purchase for a new City Hall expressed their concerns to the Board of Mayor of Aldermen on Tuesday.
Among those concerns was insufficient public notice before such a major decision would be made on July 9.
Purchase of the Occasions on the Square building was listed on the July 9 BMA meeting agenda, which was posted online.
City Recorder Glenn Hutchens acknowledged, however, that the agenda isn’t accessible to everyone online because having a Google account is required to open it. Hutchens said he is working on the website to eliminate that problem.
Other concerns expressed by local residents Tuesday included the cost of the building versus its benefit to residents; lack of a plan or cost estimate to renovate the building into a City Hall; and that the building is co-owned by Mayor Jim Sells’ son and Alderman Eloise Edwards’ son-in-law.
Rogersville businessman Andrew Poe said he believes the money would have been better spent on keeping an indoor swimming pool in the city’s proposed City Park community center project plans.
Poe also noted that the purchase price of $1.2 million is a 43% increase on what the property sold for in 2015.
“Right now with inflation and the commercial real estate market, that’s ridiculous, paying that for that building,” Poe said.
With regard to purchasing the building without a plan for the renovation Poe said, “Would you take $1.2 million of your own money and go buy something without doing your due diligence? I wouldn’t. … I don’t think this takes into account the interest of city residents.
“And then let’s look at the optics of the whole thing,” he added. “You do that the month after a tax increase. … It looks like some of this (tax increase) is going toward paying for a new building. In this economy? With people struggling? Do you really think that’s the best way to show the city that you care about them? I don’t.”
Poe said despite the conflict of interest disclosures signed by Sells and Edwards, he believes there is personal interest in this sale.
“This is another decision being made to spend taxpayers’ dollars, that I wonder if consideration has even been given to what city residents think about the way their money is being spent,” Poe said. “I guarantee you, if you went out and talked to city residents, they wouldn’t think it’s the best use of their money, especially in this economy.”
A video of the complete discussion on this topic can be seen in the online version of this article at www.therogersvillereview.com.
By the numbers
On July 9, the BMA voted to accept a $1.2 million offer to purchase the Occasions on the Square property, located at 101 W. Main St., from Christian-Sells Inc.
The property is owned by Chris Christian, the son-in-law of Edwards, and James P. Sells, the son of Rogersville’s mayor.
That decision came less than two weeks after the BMA voted to increase the city property tax by 35 cents. City leaders said that tax increase was partly needed to pay for impending projects such as matching grant funding for major park improvements and the community center project at the City Park, which has been estimated at $16.5 million.
The Occasions on the Square building, which was constructed in 1965, has 9,120 square feet of interior space and is appraised at $951,900. Christian-Sells purchased the property, which previously operated as Colboch-Price Funeral Home, for $688,769 in 2015.
Assuming the purchase of the property is finalized, Occasions on the Square will be taken off the county and city property tax rolls. Property Assessor Michael Gillespie told the Review that Occasions on the Square generates $8,852 in county property taxes and approximately $5,660 in city property taxes, not including the 35-cent increase that takes effect in 2024-25.
Not finalized
City Attorney Kevin Keeton noted that the city’s purchase of the Occasions on the Square property hasn’t been finalized. The BMA voted last month to accept the $1.2 million offer to purchase the property, and the next step was to enter into a written contract.
Keeton noted that the contract allows up to a five-month inspection period by the city to determine if this building works.
“For any reason whatsoever the city can decide not to purchase it,” Keeton added.
Ultimately the BMA will make the final decision whether this purchase is finalized, Keeton said.
Vice Mayor Brian Hartness said that aside from moving the city recorder’s staff, the water department may be moved into the new building as well.
“We’re just going to find out what the economic feasibility would be for our city, once we have the architect look at this and see what we’ll be able to do — and have an engineer look at it,” Hartness said. “It’s not just the water department. We may have room to move our police department over there also. … I was hoping we’d be able to consolidate a lot of offices into one office for a central location. Bigger than what we have here (at City Hall) and better accommodate our city for what we may need for the future. Our city is growing.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0