Starkville aldermen ended months of speculation surrounding a potential purchase of Cadence Bank’s Main Street property Tuesday by shifting their attention to renovating City Hall for Starkville Police Department’s permanent home.
In the end, aldermen acknowledged the cost of purchasing the bank — an expected $2.55 million — and minimum renovations would outpace revenue streams. They voted 5-0 — Aldermen David Little and Henry Vaughn were absent Tuesday — to end negotiations with Cadence.
Although the board showed interest in a partial City Hall renovation, one estimated to cost at least $2.44 million, aldermen failed to motion the plan forward, opting instead to continue studying it and its associated funding measures.
Tuesday marked the presentation of a long-expected cost analysis conducted by architect Gary Shafer, of Shafer and Associates. His study attempted to show “an apples to apples” cost comparison, he said, between the bank and the city’s current administrative home in three different renovation scenarios.
Using spatial benchmarks — the department’s need for operating space, holding facilities and a secure entryway called a sally port — Shafer estimated SPD’s future home requires about 26,000 square feet. In comparison, it now occupies about 8,140 square feet of 20,232 usable square feet in City Hall without holding or sally port facilities.
City staff, minus SPD, will vacate the premises and move into its new administrative home once construction is complete, thereby allowing police a full takeover of the facility.
The plan aldermen showed an interest in — a partial renovation of City Hall, which would remodel 65 percent of the back portion of the building and provide about 17,970 square feet of renovated space — would cost under Cadence’s proposed price tag.
A minimum renovation to secure the bank for police usage, he said, would add $855,000 to the $2.55 million purchase cost. The city cannot secure Cadence Bank if it set a $400,000-maximum renovation budget, Shafer said.
Those minimum and partial Cadence renovations, his report stated, would also fail to make the facility compliant to many 2015 codes, including those associated with the Americans with Disabilities Act and fire requirements.
Conversely, the $2.44 million City Hall renovation would make the building compliant with ADA, plumbing and fire protection codes while closing the gap heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and electrical code shortcomings.
Although a Cadence purchase was championed for months by both Mayor Parker Wiseman and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins, other aldermen began expressing doubts about the deal’s potential when the city failed to receive competitive bids for City Hall and surplus lagoon space in northern Starkville.
Aldermen had hoped to offload the two properties and use the proceeds, in conjunction with $1.3 million in certificates of participation (COPs) left over from the prior administration’s City Hall construction project, to cover the bank’s purchase.
An earlier decision to issue $3 million in general obligation bonds for infrastructure projects and Tuesday’s greenlight for a $5 million bond that will develop a new industrial park all but sounded the death knell for the financial flexibility needed to pull off the bank deal and its minimum fixes.
From the table Tuesday, both Wiseman and Perkins acknowledged how Shafer’s report put Cadence’s costs into perspective.
“The reason I always thought the numbers would ultimately work on this project is that $2.55 million was a very generous offer for the space they have. The assumption I made is getting premium office space at a great value would offer us a better financial opportunity than substantially renovating this space,” Wiseman said. “The thing I didn’t account for is premium office space does not always translate to a secure police facility. It became clear that the numbers don’t work using Cadence Bank for a future police station.”
Perkins went on to request a motion authorizing the partial City Hall renovation, including additional structural improvements to the building’s exterior and parking overlays that could drive the projected cost closer to $2.7 million, but Aldermen Ben Carver, Scott Maynard and Jason Walker said they wanted additional time to study the issue.
“We have to sharpen our pencils and look a little deeper,” Maynard said in regard to studying financing options.
In other business, the board created the Starkville Utilities Department by merging Starkville Electric Department and the city’s public works division. SED General Manager Terry Kemp will oversee the new department and was given a 10 percent raise for his upcoming efforts.
The merger became effective this morning.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.