Attendees to Monday’s Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners meeting included Mayor Guy Thompson and other Milton city council representatives, Matthew Hargraves and Brad Johnson from Johnson, Green & Hargraves, PA on the city of Milton’s taskforce for the downtown site, as well as several candidates for city and county races this fall, and community leaders. Notably absent from the meeting was HOK, the design firm the county hired for the proposed courthouse.
However, figures came in for the costs of the three proposed sites for the Santa Rosa County courthouse from the consulting firm Hatch Mott MacDonald. The three documents the firm has provided are opinions of probable cost for the downtown Milton site, the Pace (Coldwell Banker) site, and the Cotton Byrom property. The subheading for each also said, “Opinion of Probable Construction Costs,” and included the site work, which includes the asphalt and FDOT requirements, storm water, the storm water pond components, sanitary sewer, and water, with water line and fire hydrant components.
The most expensive site, based on these estimates, was the Cotton Byrom site at $2.9 million, the Pace site in the middle at $2.1 million, with the current Milton location the cost effective at $1.6 million. These were only the opinions of cost with the documentation noting the exclusion of impact and permitting fees, property acquisition costs, and off-site utility improvements. Being construction costs, they also didn’t include costs to taxpayers for purchasing the Pace real estate or the segments of the downtown property the county would need to buy. Costs to the downtown site would drop with city assistance. Mayor Thompson said, at the meeting, “Should you pick the downtown site, the city is ready and willing to work with you to help reduce the costs of the courthouse being built there.”
The topic of costs can mean two different things depending on who is speaking. Money coming from the city still would involve tax dollars. Johnson said, “The total cost of the project may differ from the total cost to the county tax payer. I hope the cost on the ballot is the cost to the taxpayer, not the cost of the project.”
Cost may not even be a factor if something is not for sale, the issue facing proponents of the downtown Milton site with an owner of land unwilling to sell. County Administrator, Hunter Walker, said, “We always have the option of eminent domain.” Candidate for County Commissioner District 2, Wallis Mahute said she was not against keeping the courthouse downtown, but appalled by Walker bringing up eminent domain. “Nobody would want their property taken from them,” she said.
Speakers before the board also expressed frustration with HOK having accurate information to determine costs and design. Hargraves said, “We expected HOK to have a presentation, but when the rubber meets the road, you just may not have documentation ready, but we do need better communication with them.” Hargraves suggested the county appoint a liaison to communicate directly with HOK and give them any missing information, Hargraves said, which could have been accomplished with a simple phone call.
Commissioner Bob Cole agreed with the idea of a liaison saying he was dissatisfied with the way HOK has been communicating. However, others on the board came to the defense of the firm hired first, Walker said, with one site in mind, then a second in East Milton, then a third in downtown Milton. Commissioner Don Salter expounded on Walker’s comments saying, “Going back to the beginning, we’ve asked HOK to evaluate 12 different sites. Let’s not beat them up too much.”
As to the liaison suggestion, Commissioner Jim Melvin, responding to Hargraves, said, “For HOK, they have a client in mind and won’t take input from outside of the client, which is this board. We’ve got that [a liaison].” Walker said, “I’m happy to do that.” Commissioner Jayer Williamson reminded the attendees of the time table. He said, “I understand not rushing them, but we need the ballot language by August 29.” Williamson also said when the government rushes, it appears suspect. Commissioner Melvin moved the issue to Thursday. HOK may or may not have more numbers by then. Thursday, the board will also discuss a proposed ordinance and a proposed resolution for the once-cent sales tax put together by Angie Jones, county attorney. At the end of the memo, before the actual ordinance language, she wrote, “The action for next week's meeting would be to authorize staff to advertise the ordinance and set the public hearing.” She also wrote the proposed ordinance must be advertised and set for public hearing.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Pressure builds over courthouse location