By Jim Sack
It was reported late last week that the cost of using the old Wolf & Dessauer building as the new city hall has gone up, again. Well, it has gone up this time like a rocket, over 50%, from $7 million to $11 million in round figures.
Why?
Well, the fellows who presented the estimates to the task force of government officials trying to find a way out of this mess said to the task force of government officials trying to find a way out of this mess that they were too rushed initially by the city officials who got us into this mess. It should be added that some of the people who got us into this mess are sitting on the task force of government officials trying to find a way out of this mess.
You may remember the mayor wanted to buy the old W&Ds, now known as the Renaissance Building. He felt he had to act fast because the police department needed a new HQ and because he could get a really good deal on the long vacant building. You might remember that city council was pushed hard to agree to the purchase, the mayor telling them that the deal faced a tight deadline imposed by the seller and a lease holder. So, with only three members voting against, Council agreed to buy the building. The cost was quoted then as $7 million or so for the building, then another $7 million or so for renovation and moving expenses. A few weeks later, a purchase agreement was sent down to council and the numbers had grown by some $4 million in closing costs and lawyer fees. Council member Tom Didier, you might remember, was angry. “Why didn’t just tell us up front?” he asked a mayoral lawyer. He voted for it anyway. “Customary costs,” the lawyers explained to council. The implication was the council should have known that the initial cost estimate was just an estimate…for the purpose of getting the deal done. As one 9th floor lawyer left the table that night he rolled his eyes to his friends in an expression of great relief. It could have been much worse. Now, it is.
Seems the architects were hustled, too. They said they didn’t have adequate time to fully estimate the costs of transforming the building. They are now gently pointing the finger at the administration. The mayor was in a big hurry. Now, he is asking us to pay a bit more, an additional $4 million, for his haste.
You might remember the Council members Tom Smith, John Shoaff and Mitch Harper voted against the purchase. Councilwoman Liz Brown and current council president Marty Bender, who works for the mayor, voted for it, as did council members Tim Pape, Karen Goldner, Tom Didier and Glynn Hines. Mr. Didier likes to style himself a fiscal conservative. He did not bother to review the purchase agreement upon which the vote was taken. Nor did the others. They left it up to the mayor, who was in a big hurry to “more forward.”
Ah, but the mistake amounts to only $4 million more. Chump change these days. Hmmm. Actually, it is a 57% mistake when considered only within the context of the renovations. In the total cost of the building, which was first proposed at $14 million, it is only a 28% mistake. When you throw in the hidden lawyer fees, $4 million, the additional $4 million mistake, oversight, oops, sorry,whatever, is only a 22% “readjustment.” Heck, a few more such mistakes and surprised and the $4 million cost over-run will hardly amount to anything in the scheme of things, just chump change.
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Same tactic of witholding information, then a tight deadline to limit public debate or avoid it totally – just like Calhoun St. Now, we are being shown the cost in small, digestable bits. This will end up being another 25 million dollar project and have we EVER seen a purchase agreement? How can anyone on Council vote for something without seeing a contract? Easy, King Henry wants it and Bender wants to keep his day job, Pape trusts his mayor, those 2 women are just doing what they ar told, and Tom Didier was told he could attend the press conference and stand next to the King – just like he did at the Calhoun St press conference. Maybe Tom will get to say it’s “beautifull”, too.
At this morning’s Conservative Breakfast Club gathering, Liz Brown protested that the county officials were being very “one-sided” in regard to charging who is responsible for the lack of openness in the financial dealings on this project. Well, just who on the city council bothered to ask to read the purchase agreement? You would think that the council finance chair would have insisted on seeing this document before voting on an approval of a contract covering it. Does anyone on council have any knowledge, other than the administration’s verbal contention, of the cost if a contract is not completed by a certain date? Have “half-truths been ever been offered as fact by this (and the past) administration ?
John, no one has said quite so concisely. You are correct.
I think, Doug, you are lbit too ittle hard on Mrs. Brown and Ms. Goldner. They are both strong, highly intelligent women with whom I frequently disagree. I do not trust Karen and I think Mrs. Brown is only a conservative when it is someone else’s project or paycheck. Council troubles me, but I still like Smith, Shoaff and Harper, for various reasons. I think, though, that all of the members of council have the best interests of the city at heart, some just more so than others.
Since I moved away from Ft Wayne in 1987, it seems as though I must have missed when Ft Wayne won the lottery. I just figure with as many gazillions as you guys spend down there on depreciating assets, surely you had hit the lottery! When was that?
Hey, ya think for a small percentage of what Ft Wayne spends annually on tanking real estate they’d cut me in as a consultant? For 2% of $7mil I’d actually read the purchase agreement for them. Out Loud!
Just a thought…
I only hope that people begin to understand the whole “transparency” issue in government.
It DOES NOT MEAN they will divulge information TO YOU..
It DOES MEAN you’ll be able to SEE RIGHT THROUGH their tactics…
Let’s make that distinction, as we begin to wake up and smell the coffee burning.
Anyone catch Nelson Peters on Midday Matters, yesterday on WBOI, 89.1 FM? He was interviewed by Joe Wyler who was an editor at the News, and by Bob Caylor of the Journal. Interesting. He said the full bill will be around $27 million. He tabout his proposal that the city work on W&Ds, the County redo the CCBuilding and they share space, rent free. He said the county might sell a building or two to pay for their expenses. Every Monday at noon WBOI takes on an issue. Usually worth the listen. I occasionally call in.
Jim, I may have been a little unkind toward the Councilwomen. However, I can not condone threatening a taxpayer at a public event, and I do not enjoy the other who feels it necessary to talk in concentric circles while she waits for a salient point to come around. Then, again, I’m probably expecting too much.