Mayor: Department moves will happen soon

Oct. 20—City department moves will occur quickly following their approval earlier this week by the Decatur City Council, Mayor Tab Bowling said.

The highlights of Bowling's proposal are moving Planning, Information Systems and Engineering, plus the Metropolitan Planning Organization, out of the city's leased annex at Cain and Ferry streets and shifting departments around between the Historic Depot, Fort Decatur and City Hall.

The City Council voted 4-1 to approve the moves, which several council members said afterward shouldn't occur quickly as they look for a sublessee for the final 13 months of the lease the city has with lessor HCS Cullman LLC.

"Just because we authorize it now, doesn't mean we have to start moving it next week," Councilman Carlton McMasters said. "It wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit if we were to go ahead and actively try to sublease and maybe wait until we have a sublessee before we start making any of the moves."

Council President Jacob Ladner said getting out of a lease is a long-term net gain for the city and the remaining time before the moves — the lease expires in December 2024 — isn't long.

"My point is if we're going to get out of that lease, we need to go ahead and start those plans now to make sure you're ready when the end of the lease comes," Ladner said.

Councilman Kyle Pike said he thinks it's a good idea to make the moves but they shouldn't be in a hurry as long as they don't have a sublessee.

"I'm not saying we should start tomorrow, but I don't think we should continue to delay (moving)," Pike said.

However, the mayor said he met with Director of Development Dane Shaw on Tuesday morning and discussed the moves.

"We're going ahead with the process of getting Planning over to the seventh floor," Bowling said. "I met with (Parks and Recreation Director Jason Lake), and they will start their transition out of Fort Decatur (Recreation Center). From there, you get the ripple effect."

He said Human Resources will move into Fort Decatur after security upgrades are added. This will free up the second floor of City Hall for the Police Department to move out of the Historic Depot and into second floor.

Finance will move to the Historic Depot. Human Resources Director Richelle Sandlin and Chief Financial Officer Kyle Demeester will take over the council members' offices on City Hall's sixth floor.

Bowling said he doesn't think the changes "will take long at all."

McMasters said he voted for the proposal because Police Chief Todd Pinion wants all of the Police Department under one roof. Part of the changes include moving the Street Unit that's part of the DPD to City Hall and replacing its space at the depot with the Finance Department.

The cost estimate for the move provided by Demeester to the mayor and City Council is $80,000.

However, Councilman Billy Jackson said one of the reasons he voted against the proposal is he has no faith in the estimate. He said the initial estimate was $100,000 and then the mayor lowered the estimate by $20,000 at last week's council work session.

Jackson said there are expenses missing in the estimate, like preparing the second floor for the Police Department and Finance's move to the depot.

"I just think somebody's spit-balling the numbers," Jackson said. "I don't think this is a real number."

He pointed out that other mayors and councils found similar moves "were cost-prohibitive."

Bowling said Demeester worked on the estimate with Building Maintenance and Information Systems. He said the costs could increase but "we feel good about the estimate."

Bowling said in September when initially making the proposal that the city could save close to $80,000 annually by avoiding the $5,500 per month rent, property tax, estimated building improvement expenses, insurance, maintenance and other costs, if it leaves the annex that it leases from owner HCS Cullman

If the city is going to leave the leased Planning annex, Jackson said they should look at moving out of the leased Municipal Court Annex at 310 Cain St. N.E., which is next door to the Planning annex.

Pike said he likes Jackson's idea of moving out of the Municipal Court annex. He suggested the council may need to look at doing a larger renovation or an expansion of City Hall in the future.

"I definitely wish all city employees — with the exception of those who are working out in the field — and directors were inside City Hall," Pike said. "I think this is a step towards that."

Pike said they may need to look at demolishing the old city jail or build additional floors on top of it at City Hall.

Bowling said they need to bring in a structural engineer to examine the jail, which has so much steel in it that he's not sure about the cost of possible demolition or whether it could handle additional floors.

Councilman Hunter Pepper said he thinks the mayor's proposal was a "wonderful" idea.

"It's going to be more convenient for citizens who would rather go to City Hall and are tired of going back and forth between multiple locations," Pepper said. "I wish we could have everybody under one roof. This will have to do for now."

Pepper's response to the concern that the moves might cost more than the $80,000 estimate was, "Who cares? It's going to have to be done one way or another eventually. Why not do it now?"

Pepper said he expects prices are going to continue to increase so there's no reason to delay.

"We could have more issues with inflation next year, and things could be higher than they are now so why not go ahead and attack it while we have the opportunity," he said.

The ease which with the city finds a new tenant for the Planning annex could depend on how much the rent is, Pepper said.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.