Norfok Daily News

Friday – December 14, 2007

Your View

Differnt options for city offices

NORFOLK — In regard to the city’s recently exicuting an option to purchase the First Christian Church, I certainly do recognize and appreciate the need for new City offices. The current facilities are inefficient, out dated and are no longer adequate to meet the needs of City staff. The current facility also does not present a positive image on the City of Norfolk.

I would support responsible efforts to research viable options with respect to relocating our City offices. At the forefront of those efforts should be an option to “partner” with other public entities and share a common facility. The Lifelong Learning Center is a perfect example of how collaborative relationships benefits a community as well as save taxpayer dollars.

Each entity could share a main entrance, public restrooms, meeting rooms, atrium/lobby area, as well as provide valuable input on design and much more. Several public entities have already expressed an interest in discussing the possibilities of such an effort. I believe it is appropriate to discuss other options, including the ones mentioned above, in a public format prior to any further investment of city staff time or taxpayer dollars on the concept of purchasing the First Christian Church.

While purchasing the former church seems to be a convenient solution to a long standing problem, it seems to be lacking in long-term vision. With the growing citizen driven enthusiasm for the River Walk project and a Master Plan for the project in the works, waiting a few months for a study to see if the City offices could possibly be incorporated into this very worthwhile project would be appropriate.

I commend both the Mayor and City Administrator for being supportive of the River Walk project. I feel it sends a mixed message to the citizens of Norfolk for the City offices to leave the downtown and pursue a short-term convenient solution. Considerable and noticeable improvements have already been completed in an effort to revitalize downtown. With the Mayor not seeking re-election and a City Administrator who has stated he desires to leave Norfolk, an 11th hour decision to re-locate the City offices to a former church on the edge of town would in my opinion, be a difficult decision to justify to the citizens of Norfolk.

I would also like to express my concern with the fact that a city employee could in effect potentially obligate the city to a minimum cost of between 650,000 and 1 Million dollars by initiating a down payment of $6,500. This down payment goes way beyond the scope of a routine purchase that would typically fall under the authority of the purchasing agent.

City officials have stated that the church is simply one of the options they are exploring. I find it hard to believe that our purchasing agent would write a non-refundable check for all items that are being considered to be purchased by the city. If the city is considering purchasing a new truck, is our purchasing agent authorized to spend taxpayer dollars to write a non-refundable down payment to each auto dealer being considered as a vendor? I don’t think so. I think everyone understands the intent of the $6,500.00 down payment.

I would strongly urge the citizens of Norfolk to contact the Mayor and City Council and request that the current proposal to purchase the former church be put on hold while public discussions are held with respect to other options, including the feasibility of partnering with other public entities in a collaborative effort to save taxpayer dollars.

Tom Schommer
Norfolk mayoral candidate