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SALEM--The city Parks Commission agreed Wednesday to seek bond financing for the purchase of a former physician's office as the new parks department headquarters, pending city council approval.
"I think we all feel pretty comfortable with this," Parks Director Shane Franks said.
The 1,627-square-foot building is located at 222 Oak St., just off of Southeast Boulevard, and includes a meeting room and offices and already has the wiring for phones and computers. The building was constructed in 1984.
The pending purchase agreement is for $95,000. The down payment will come from money in a parks capital improvement fund from oil/gas lease money transferred by council to the parks and from a fund that had just been sitting there that had come from Perry Township for the parks years ago. The remaining $70,000 will be financed through a 5-year note which will have to be renewed, with payments stretched out over 20 years.
City Auditor Betty Brothers, who was present for the commission meeting, explained that she contacted the city's bond counsel and they're looking at possibly a 4 percent rate with monthly payments of $425, which is well within the parks department budget.
"This purchase is contingent on council okaying it," Franks said.
The commission opened their meeting on the building discussion. Other city officials who attended besides the three commission members included Mayor John Berlin, Councilman Ron Zellers, who chairs the Parks Committee of city council, and Councilwoman Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, who also serves on the committee. Commission members include Chairman John Panezott, Vice Chair Terry Hoopes and Lucille Karnofel.
City council's Parks Committee will meet at 5:15 p.m. Friday regarding the proposed purchase and note, which if recommended, will then go to city council for council's approval.
If everything goes as planned, the parks department will move out of the Memorial Building at some point, completing a separation that began last fall. For many years, the two entities were so entwined that they were sharing some of the same employees, the same building and the same phone system. The commission decided to separate from the Memorial Building, starting by having the parks director and recreation supervisor as parks employees only, no longer doing duties for the Memorial Building.
The parks continued to pay for the phone system and continued to handle snow removal and grass mowing and remained in the building, but as Hoopes explained, moving out was one of their priorities when they announced the split. He said it's best for the Memorial Building and best for the parks department.
Dickey questioned if it was a situation where they had to move from the Memorial Building or just wanted to, asking what the advantage was going to be.
"We just want our own building," Panezott said.
Franks, who previously served as the recreation supervisor for both the parks and the Memorial Building, became the new parks director after former director Steve Faber and the commission announced late last year that he was resigning from the parks department. Faber remained as director of the Memorial Building. Franks resigned his position with the Memorial Building. Faber is now a member of city council, representing the First Ward, and serves on the Parks Committee of city council.
Dickey also questioned if there had been any space available in city government for an office and what the utilities will cost. Franks said there wasn't really any space available anywhere else. He checked into leasing and considered the KSU City Center but it would have cost $450 to $500 a month just to lease the space, plus they would have had to put in phone lines, etc. The building they're planning to buy is move-in ready. The estimated cost for heat was $65 a month and $110 a month for electric. As for insurance, the building will be owned by the city and fall under the city's policy
Thinking long-term, both Panezott and Franks said the building will have a resale value and should be looked at as an investment. Panezott said a long range plan would be to build a place in one of the parks for the parks office. The building is valued at $127,000 and the asking price was originally $105,000.
In other business, the commission discussed having a free assessment of the department's electrical usage to see what can be done to reduce costs, with Franks noting there are 15 different meters in the system throughout the parks. Parks Foreman Jim Grimm updated the commission on the maintenance crew's activities, including general maintenance, making some repairs to the water line at one of the pavilions where there was some vandalism and cleaning up a tree that fell over at Centennial Park during last Friday's storm. The new member of the crew, Josh Faulkner, started today and Grimm said he's energetic and strong and remembered where everything was from the last time he worked as a seasonal employee.
The commission also welcomed Amber Smith to her first meeting as the new recreation supervisor, with Franks giving the dates for some upcoming Go Wild in the Park programs.
The next commission meeting is 5 p.m., Oct. 24.