Starkville aldermen approved a series of orders Tuesday that will position the city to proceed with a $2.55 million-maximum purchase of Cadence Bank’s Main Street branch next year.
As approved Tuesday, Starkville will begin advertising its current City Hall location and lagoon property north of the city for bids beginning Jan. 1. The city will retain the right to reject any and all unsatisfactory bids.
Additionally, the board authorized Mayor Parker Wiseman, Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins and Ward 3 Alderman David Little to negotiate a purchase price for the facility, which appraised for about $3.15 million.
For months now, board members have eyed acquiring the property to serve as Starkville Police Department’s future home. A financial shell game is developing if the city wishes to keep the purchase tax-neutral.
Starkville could use about $1.3 million in certificates of participation earmarked for current City Hall renovations to help fund the lion’s share of the purchase, a move that board attorney Chris Latimer said is viable after research.
Two appraisals for City Hall have yielded $800,000 and $900,000 estimates, Chief Administrative Officer Taylor Adams told aldermen Tuesday. Officials hope to net $420,000-$600,000 for the excess lagoon property once a survey discrepancy is cleared.
How the city programs the Cadence property could impact renovation costs. Adams and Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols both said the building would be as secure as SPD’s current home the moment Starkville purchased the building; however, aldermen and staff indicated the city’s desire to keep Cadence as a first-floor tenant to serve as a continued revenue source.
Although discussions with architects have forecast Cadence to continue operating the facility’s drive-thru, aldermen asked Nichols if SPD could operate on just the second and third floors. The chief said the configuration would not allow for his department to grow in correlation to the city’s population.
Nichols also described a larger civilian presence beyond drive-thru operators on the first floor as a security risk, but Little asked the chief to re-think his needs in order to make the project financially viable.
“I would hope you’d be open to something like that to help us help you make this work, because we don’t have enough money right now to make this work,” the alderman said. “If you can get by with just two floors — just be open minded.”
In addition to opening up the building’s ground floor for commercial use, aldermen also indicated willingness to scrap a plan that would send Starkville Municipal Court from the City Hall under construction at the end of Main Street to the bank parcel.
Adams warned that such a move to the proposed SPD home could cost $1 million to $3 million in renovations.
Aldermen said they are hopeful the purchase will occur next year, but additional cost estimates and comparisons with programming and renovations are needed. To facilitate an immediate SPD move-in, a small sum would be needed for communication infrastructure and security; however, Adams said Starkville could face $500,000-$750,000 in renovations if future boards wish to meet the chief’s growth model across 15-20 years.
The facility appeared structurally sound in the course of city due diligence studies, Adams said, but minor projects to shore up its roof and a retaining wall are needed in the future.
“We have to ask ourselves if we want to invest money right now — the $1.3 million set aside — into a building (City Hall) that only appraised for $800,000 (the lowest of two estimates) or would we be better off spending that money and investing in a building that appraised for $3.15 million that will serve these men in uniform the best over the long term,” Ward 5 Alderman Scott Maynard said. “I, personally, don’t want to invest money into (City Hall renovations). It’s good money chasing bad. I don’t think $1.3 million would touch this building with renovations, and I think it would require more than that in the long run.
“It’s important we spend the taxpayers’ money wisely,” he added. “It’s also important we invest for the future, as well as our current needs.”
Multiple aldermen took exception to how Tuesday’s Cadence update was presented. As published in the agenda, only a one-page sheet announcing discussions on the purchase was available to the public and to the board.
“(Speaking) as a businessman, we have to find a way to make it work. I just got a one-page document tonight; I don’t feel comfortable at all,” Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver said. “There’s no financing — throwing $200,000-$300,000 around here and there. I don’t do my personal checkbook like that. When it comes time to vote, I want to see real, hard numbers. The safe vote on my part is that we have to recoup some of those dollars before we start spending them.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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