Two former city managers and two former mayors say keeping city hall, the police department and city court Downtown is best for the future of Poplar Bluff but some wonder if going ahead with the project now makes financial sense.
Tom Lawson, Tracy Edington, Betty Absheer and Doug Bagby agree a new facility is needed, but think the rush to get it done, despite the city's current financial state and a seeming disregard for what is best for the community as a whole, leaves them feeling concerned about the potential purchase of Northwest Medical Center.
"There is no practical reason for the city to indebt themselves for another $9-10 million while you are still trying to overcome some financial hardships and large debts incurred in previous years," said Lawson, suggesting the city offices remain in their rented facilities for now.
The city is securing $8 million to finance the impending project, which would include not only a real estate purchase, but also major renovations. Some estimates suggest the actual cost could reach $9 million. This does not include demolition and removal costs for the current city hall building on Oak Street, estimated by city officials to come in at more than $1 million.
Lawson, a former city manager, said affordability, location, convenience to "all of our citizens," nearness and compatibility with other city and county facilities and the future of Downtown Poplar Bluff are all factors that should be seriously considered before moving forward.
"If necessary, schedule city council meetings, planning meetings and all other city meetings in nearby Downtown locations (Black River Coliseum, Butler County Courthouse, Oak Street City Hall)," he said. "Continue this approach until the city can afford a newly-built location."
Lawson said convenience to citizens in the downtown area should be an obvious consideration when thinking about all the city wards and people served by the city.
"The sheriff's office, Butler County Courthouse, the city's police department and other related departments would seem to benefit with the nearness we have experienced for several years," he continued.
Lawson also said the same support should be given to Downtown as is being given to the areas being "blessed with the large increase in retail on the northern and western parts of the city thanks to highway improvements."
"We urgently need to give as much support as is possible to the continued efforts of those who are working to give Downtown life and business," he said, referring to the city's downtown committee, Rodgers Theatre Inc., the Historical Commission "and many other individuals who are working hard to save our Downtown, which has been here since 1849."
Former mayor Edington said he is "very disappointed" with the action of certain council members.
"I've lived here all my life and I've got this big question, why? Why do they want to go out there (Northwest Medical location)," Edington asked. "I don't think the council has listened to the public as well as it should have with this issue."
Edington said he talks to hundreds of people each day at his business and around town and that 98 percent of them have told him they don't understand it either and they don't feel like they've been heard.
"Really, I don't think the city needs to be spending any money they don't have or any future money they're going to have," Edington said. "The budget is already strained, I feel. We're coming off a city manager who got us for about a million bucks a month. It hurt. I don't think it's anything we won't come out of but these things take time."
Edington said another thing that has him concerned is the seeming rush to purchase Northwest Medical Center, explaining the plan seems to have "cropped up very quickly."
"I think they're moving too fast," he said. "City hall has been talked about and debated for years. Yes that building (on Oak Street) is terrible and yes we needed to get out of there, but Northwest is not the answer."
Edington said he thinks the city should build a new building where the old facility currently stands.
"We have enough room there to do what the city needs; a modest, nice new building," he said. "Efficient and economical. It doesn't have to be the Taj Mahal, but city hall fits Downtown where most of the city's business is. It's all right there and it's what we had planned all along."
Edington said one thing that caught his eye was that the council doesn't want to include tearing down the former city hall in any numbers associated with Northwest Medical Center, but are estimating (demolition) costs to be about $1.3 million.
"That seems exorbitant," he said. "I just don't believe that. I've seen our city street department tear down old burned houses in one day. I know we can do a lot of that work ourselves. There may be some EPA issues but we deal with that all the time."
Edington said ultimately he doesn't want to see the city saddled with a debt that will take a long time to get over.
"In the last 20 years, the Black River Coliseum, a building that I love, was supposed to be a $3 million building (when it was voted on by the citizens) and I think we have about $19 million in it," he said. "I was proud of the fact that we didn't lay anyone off, but it strapped everything for a while. We couldn't hire anyone. We couldn't buy new lawn mowers for the cemetery. Four people decided to do that (build the coliseum for the $19 million price) and we're just now getting over it. The power of four."
Edington said if people really take an interest in this, they need to seek out the petitions and sign them legibly. He said he has the petition, as well as voter registration cards at (his business) Money Mizer on Pine.
"It seems like the four people (council members) up there are dead set on doing what they think is right for the city, but looking down the road, we're going to lose tax revenue along with other entities in the county, to move to what I consider a retail location," he said. "People need to pay attention to this and slow it down a little so they can think it out some more. I think this needs to be a public decision."
Another former mayor, Absheer, said she thinks moving the city offices to Barron Road would create hardships for the people living in Poplar Bluff's eastern and southern wards.
"Of course I live in Ward 3, on the east side, and thinking about the south side, I don't like to see everything moving away from there," she said. "We've always been the poorer wards, I guess, and that doesn't bother me. I just don't like to see things moved away from these citizens."
Absheer said aside from city hall, the relocation of the police department and municipal court would create an inconvenience for many people who cannot afford the expense of transportation costs.
"A lot of people think us east side people and south side people are a lot of the trouble and a lot of these people down here don't have transportation (to get to Barron Road)," she said.
Absheer also said wear and tear on police vehicles will add up, taking people from a police station on Barron Road to the Butler County jail downtown.
"Our county offices are down here," she said. "The courthouse, the jail is down here. Not to mention, we already own that property here. I think in the long run it would benefit us to tear that property down and build a new one."
Absheer said she has been a little confused on the financial aspect, since no official costs have been presented.
"Of course, I realize you can't always know how much something will cost," she said. "But by the time they purchase that out there and do everything that is necessary, the renovations and getting the offices up to where they would serve our purpose, it's going to cost a lot. Plus, what they'd have to do to the street there - there is a lot of traffic in that area."
Absheer said if she were still on the council, she would suggest they tear down the building on Oak Street and build a new facility that would "last for many years to come."
"I've seen the city progress in the years I have lived here, growing up here. I was on the council and progress was made and I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve then. I know a lot of people think Downtown can't be revived and I don't believe that. If that's our attitude, it won't be."
For Bagby, a former city manager, efficiency is the most important thing the council should think about. He said he feels strongly the city needs to build a new facility to house city hall, the police department, and municipal court.
"It would be much more efficient to build a city hall that was designed to be a city hall," he said. "We looked at city hall when I was still at the city and it would have been much more cost-effective to build new instead of to renovate (Northwest Medical Center)."
Bagby said Northwest is a much larger facility than what the city needs by twice the size.
"The city occupied a little less than 30 thousand-square-feet (at the Oak Street facility)," he said. "Do we need 35 thousand, yes, maybe even 40. But I know you can build more efficiently than you can renovate. The taxpayers don't want to see an elaborate city hall. They want something functional."
Bagby said he knows the current rented offices are "strapped for space" and that more room is needed. He suggested when the Black River Coliseum is paid off in two years, the city could dedicate some of that money toward paying for the new city hall.
"Obviously Downtown is not a thriving place, but government offices are what we're going to see there," Bagby said. "With the exception of a couple of council members, I haven't found one person in support of moving."