As Starkville Municipal Court Administrator Tony Rook walked the city”s newly formed Municipal Complex Committee through City Hall Tuesday morning, committee members couldn”t hide their surprise at the condition of the 71-year-old building.
Water has stained ceiling tiles throughout the structure and leaks through windows elsewhere during rainy weather. Some ceiling tiles were missing and wires were exposed.
File cabinets and boxes lined hallways and, in a back room, which was a stage in the National Guard armory before the building was converted into City Hall in the late 1960s, dozens of boxes of files, several pieces of furniture and countless computer parts were stacked high against the walls. Paint cans and other odds and ends were located throughout.
Space is a luxury the Starkville Municipal Court does not have, Rook said. Aside from the increased case load — Municipal Court handled about 5,500 to 6,000 cases a year from 1995 to 2000, but the total is about 12,000 cases a year now — court employees share offices or don”t have offices at all, prisoners are held in the courtroom prior to their hearings instead of holding cells, which presents security challenges, and only one restroom is available to the public.
“I can see you”re in need of some new facilities,” Municipal Complex Committee Chairman Dr. Roy Ruby said. “That”s not even a question.”
During the group”s first meeting Tuesday, Ruby and seven other committee members toured City Hall and made plans to help the city build a new municipal complex. A ninth committee member, Walter Williams, did not attend.
At its next meeting, the committee will discuss land already owned by the city and whether or not those places would be suitable for a new municipal complex. The committee also will look at needs assessments already completed for the city”s Municipal Court, Police Department and City Hall – all three of which are located in the former armory at 101 Lampkin Street.
Additionally, the committee will look at parking and square-footage needs for each department and at reports from each of the three previous municipal complex committees. A citizens” committee was formed during each of the three previous unsuccessful attempts by the city to build new facilities.
Starkville police Chief David Lindley is familiar with those efforts and discussed previous plans before leading the group on a tour of the Police Department.
Similarly to Municipal Court, Police Department employees work in cramped quarters. To get to a records room, dispatchers have to walk through a restroom. Lindley”s office doubles for a meeting room and lieutenants, sergeants and other officers share office space.
A jail built in the bottom of the Police Department, nicknamed “The Dungeon,” is plagued by flooding and exposed wires. It serves as a storage area.
Like Rook, Lindley is unsatisfied with the Police Department”s space constraints. A city with approximately 25,000 people needs 60 police officers, but the Police Department only keeps 53 on staff because it has no room for any more, Lindley said.
“If you stress good recruitment and retention of officers, it”s hard to do with these facilities,” Lindley said.
The city clerk”s office and mayor”s office also have space issues, while upstairs the Planning Department and other offices are cramped and confined. The building also has heating and cooling problems, old carpeting and flooring, and the second and third floors not handicap-accessible, among other issues.
Mayor Parker Wiseman said he hopes the committee will make a recommendation to the city”s Board of Aldermen within six months. The city could build a new structure or structures, renovate the existing building on Lampkin Street or both. The city also could use existing buildings, like the former Starkville Electric Department, to house departments and offices.
“We who come into City Hall to work every day are very familiar … with the challenges this building poses,” Wiseman said.
The committee did not set a date for its next meeting.
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