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Time to plan the city’s big buys
By DAVE SHELTON
Article published on Thursday, April 12, 2007 |
LARGO – A plan to spend $250 million in capital improvements over the next five years held few surprises for elected officials during an April 10 City Commission work session.
The state-mandated five-year plan is up more than $50 million from last year’s list of city projects.
Discussion of the most controversial issues in the Capital Improvement Plan were put off until another meeting. These included a proposed new art education center, rebuilding of the city’s Community Center and rebuilding of the Highland Recreation Center complex.
Also among controversial issues put off for another day’s discussion is the idea of spending $250,000 for a Central Park memorial to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commissioners have balked at the projected expense when initial plans submitted by a committee three years ago included an estimated cost of $15,000.
During this week’s meeting, Vice Mayor Harriet Crozier said the higher cost might be more real. She said she didn’t know where that citizens committee had gotten its lower cost estimate.
A retired employee from Serenity Gardens Memorial Park, Crozier said she had contacted that company for some support for the city and cost estimates. As a result, she said, she learned the proposed wide use of granite in the memorial would be very expensive.
Crozier said the planned granite podium in the memorial would alone cost up to $75,000 if bought from Serenity Gardens without any markup.
Joan Byrne, director of recreation, parks and arts department, said she plans to present a full report on the proposed memorial during the city commission’s April 24 work session at the Southwest Recreation Complex.
There was no discussion of the other projects Byrne has proposed.
For many years the city had planned to convert the former library building in Central Park to an art center. After several proposals were rejected, and renovation plans to convert the library building into an art center reached near $5 million, the building was demolished.
The city is now considering either erecting a new arts center or renovating a recently purchased downtown building for this use.
Despite many objections from those who use the downtown Community Center – mostly senior citizens – the commission had also planned to abandon the existing building and move those programs into the former library.
Pointing to the Community Center’s age and needed repairs, the commissioners now are looking toward building a new community center.
Other projects in the five-year plan included previously discussed projects such as road repaving, half of the projected $100 million, 10-year sewer renovation project mandated by the state, updating city computer operations, several drainage improvements, new cars and trucks and a new, more secure roof for City Hall and the police department building.
City commissioners had few questions as department heads paraded before them with their lists for project funding through 2013. These lists are updated every year. Mayor Pat Gerard called the meeting to order an hour earlier than most meetings, at 5 p.m., anticipating a long session.
The commission broke for a 45-minute dinner break and the meeting was over before 9 p.m.
Funding for the proposed capital improvements will include nearly $100 million from the Penny for Pinellas sales tax approved for the next 10 years by voters in March. Income from the Pinellas County tax on gasoline sales would provide another $5 million to fund these projects, according to a summary submitted with the plan by former City Manager Steve Stanton.
Clyde Schreiner, chairman of the city’s volunteer Finance Advisory Board, told the commission his agency was most concerned with a $1.8 million proposal to purchase software to provide the city with a computerized mapping system and with so many major projects proposed for the recreation, parks and arts department.
“Can they manage all of this at one time?” he asked of the $36 million projected costs for the arts center, Highland Recreation and Cultural Center plans.
Schreiner added that his board was also concerned that the computerized mapping system would also require the addition of nearly $500,000 a-year in operating expenses to the city budget.
Law requires the city to adopt a new five-year capital improvement plan by May 1. The commission will consider this year’s list at its April 17 regular meeting.
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Article published on Thursday, April 12, 2007
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