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Last Updated: May 2nd, 2008 - 10:32:22 |
The city administration is moving forward with plans to build a new social services building near the Hopewell Quick Lunch, but the expense has some councilors looking at other sites.
The council decisively chose the site in January at the council advance meeting. The building process is still in its earliest stages; the site needs to be surveyed before the city can even begin to ask for bids from contractors. However, the price tag attached to the project was off-putting to some of the councilors at Tuesday's work sessions; the highest current estimate for the building is $5 million.
Other suggestions for the new building included the old library building or the vacant downtown Food Lion building, both of which the city already owns. Councilor Ken Emerson also suggested a possible partnership with Prince George County for a combined building that could potentially save costs.
"If you want to be economical, you use the buildings you already own," said Vice Mayor Brenda Pelham in support of changing the plans. Councilor Christina Bailey also noted that the Food Lion building was the social service's department top choice for new sites.
Those suggestions have their own drawbacks: Noted during the discussion was that the look of the now-vacant library building doesn't fit in with the current downtown plan, and that shared services between two localities has generally proven to not cut costs.
However, the main argument against changing the plans was that the long-needed, long-in-the-works social services building had been beaten around in discussions enough.
"We've been discussing this for a long time," said Ck¬?ouncilor Curtis Harris. "It seems to me that by this time next year, things will be the same, if not worse. If we go in another direction, it will take more time. I think the citizens are confused because every time we go to a meeting, we change the route we're traveling."
Harris's statements were echoed by several councilors; when put to an informal vote, only Pelham disagreed with moving forward with the Quick Lunch site, although Bailey continued her suggestion that the city explore the other suggestions as well.
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