A divided city council narrowly voted to accept private donations of $450,000 conditioned for the purchase of the property between Lincoln Plaza and the Salem Memorial Building, including the building which formerly housed the Red Barn and Josie’s Pizza, to expand the property. While council ultimately voted to accept the donations, subsequent legislation that would authorize the purchase of the property failed to secure enough votes to waive council rules, meaning it could not be formally introduced and will have to be discussed further in city council’s next meeting on May 7. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)

SALEM — A divided city council narrowly voted to accept $450,000 in private donations conditioned for the purchase of a property on State Street in its meeting Tuesday.

The donated funds must be used for the purchase of the property located between Lincoln Plaza and the Salem Memorial Building where the former Red Barn restaurant stands, for the purpose of expanding Lincoln Plaza. Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey explained that the city was given an opportunity to purchase the property last year when it was first put up for sale, but that the price of the property was more than the city could meet. She said that since then there had been attempts to sell the property, but the owner felt that the potential buyers would not be a good fit for a property next to a city greenspace, and that when the city was approached for a second time the new $450,000 price was negotiated which includes not only the purchase of the property, but the costs of having the Red Barn building demolished and the property prepped for the city.

“They were willing to negotiate with us on the price so [City Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello] did negotiate for quite some time until we could find a price we believe compensated the owner for the property and the work that they were going to put into it to tear down the Red Barn structure and clean up that area,” said Dickey. “So, it’s not just to purchase the property, but they will take [the Red Barn] down and make [the property] suitable for our purposes as far as clearing all the debris.”

Dickey said that despite the lower price and a study by the state ensuring that there were no contaminants from the property’s history, as the site of multiple commercial restaurants that would impact the city’s use of the property, the city still lacked funding.

“At that time, I did start talking to some of our generous citizens in the community about what they thought we should do and if this was something they were interested in and I did get the donations from multiple sources, most of which want to remain anonymous,” said Dickey.

If the city purchases the property, the intended expansion would be a mixture of additional municipal parking and green space, renovations which would be completed with funds the city received for the Lincoln Plaza project from the state capital budget.

“At this time no city money would be involved. It would just be donations,” said Dickey.

Councilman Jake Gano asked if there were any estimates for the upkeep cost of the property once it was purchased by the city, and Councilman Andrew Null asked if the city would be installing parking or using existing space on the property for the parking expansion. Dickey said that she did not have an estimate at this time, but that with the intended purpose of developing parking and green space the cost wouldn’t be much, and that the city would have to do some work to make the property suitable for parking.

Gano motioned to table the resolution to accept the donation, citing concerns that the property would come with its own maintenance costs and would remove the property tax revenue the city currently receives from the property. The motion was seconded by Councilman Ron Zellers, with Zellers, Gano, and Null voting in favor, and Councilmen Jeff Stockman, Jayne Bricker and Sara Baer voting against. With Councilman Evan Newman absent, the final tie breaking vote fell to City Council President Sara Baronzzi, who voted against tabling the resolution. With the motion to table the resolution defeated, council narrowly voted four to two to approve the resolution, with Gano and Zellers casting the dissenting votes. However, with only four votes in favor the resolution could not be passed with the emergency clause as originally intended, meaning it will have to wait 30 days prior to take effect.

A subsequent resolution which would have authorized Dickey to enter into a contract to purchase the property using exclusively the donated funds was also on the agenda. However, a motion to suspend council rules to allow it to be introduced without first going through committee failed to secure enough votes, with Zellers and Gano voting against while Stockman, Bricker, Baer, and Null voted in favor, meaning that the resolution could not be read until city council’s next meeting.

When asked the reason for his dissenting vote, Gano said that he is not opposed to the potential purchase, but that he feels the city still needs to complete its due diligence on the property before moving forward with the purchase. He also explained that he voted “no” on the resolution because the motion to table had failed.

“I’m not against it; I just want to make sure we’ve done our due diligence on what expenses we would incur with it. It’s an almost half a million-dollar purchase with potential maintenance and development costs, and if we’re going to purchase [the property] I want to make sure we have the funds for that,” said Gano.

Zellers said that he shares Gano’s concerns, and that he feels more detail is needed.

Null said that he had supported the motion to table the resolution because he also feels there is a need to clarify the costs associated with owning the property.

“The obvious thought is to want to accept that donation, but a donation is a one-time thing. [Gano] made a very good point about the upkeep costs and tabling it. Let’s take a step back and see what those costs are going to be before we agree to take them on,” said Null.

When asked for comment regarding the resolutions, Dickey said that the first resolution to accept the donation was “still a go” despite the 30-day waiting period, and that the city will have to “wait and see” what will come of the resolution to purchase the property, but that she feels confident it will pass.

Council members voted unanimously to reschedule their next regular meeting, which would have been 7 p.m. May 6, the night of the upcoming primary election, for 7 p.m. the next night, May 7.