A proposal to expand the Government Center parking lot fizzled Thursday during the Douglas County Administration Committee meeting. A tie vote kept the motion to spend $125,000 on two additional houses from moving forward to the full county board.
The county has already made an approved offer to purchase one of three homes along Hammond Avenue, said County Board Chairman Doug Finn.
"We started the process, there's a need and if we wait it's going to cost us more money," he said. "This is not going to go away."
County Administrator Steve Koszarek used the cautionary tale of the second elevator in the Government Center. It wasn't put in originally and, when it was found to be necessary, it cost more to put in, he said.
But many committee members felt other issues -- such as unfunded retirement and highway work -- were more important.
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"I want to see this go on to the full county board but I'm having a heck of a time supporting spending this kind of money," said committee member Dan Corbin. "Especially when we don't know when we're going to build it."
The money requested would merely purchase the homes, not go toward the estimated $750,000 expense for the parking lot expansion, which Corbin said would create 74 new slots. Construction of the lot would depend on available capital project dollars and could be years in the future, Koszarek said.
"For me, it's just not high enough priority now," said committee member Jack Sweeney.
Finn reminded the committee members of two separate times the board could have purchased land in the city prior to the building of the Government Center -- one where the Challenge Center sits near the Mariner Mall and another parcel on North 14th Street and Cummings Avenue.
"When we needed to build the Government Center we ended up paying a lot of money, blood for it really," he said. "Hopefully you learn from some of the things you did in the past."
Some members brought up the idea of paid parking on the current lot.
"Everyone says a parking ramp is not feasible, but who says it should be free to park here?" Corbin asked.
Other committee members lofted the possibility of smaller lots in areas close to the Government Center where houses are less expensive.
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Koszarek said several options were examined, but the best long-term option is the current parking lot expansion. And right now, Finn said, the city is willing to partner in expanding the lot. Some employees who travel to and from the Government Center three or four times a day have to park a 5- to 7-minute walk away, he said, which is costing the city in employee time.
Many of the members said they were not sure they supported the idea, but felt it should move forward for the full county board to examine.
Committee members Gerald Egan, Susan Hendrickson, Bean Prettie, Carol Johnson and Kay Johnson voted to approve the motion. Members Dan Corbin, Kathryn McKenzie, John O'Brien, Jack Sweeney and Larry Quam voted to deny it. Member Keith Allen was not present.
But the issue is not dead. It was revisited at the end of the meeting and referred, in part, to the Health and Human Services Board, according to Douglas County Clerk Sue Sandvick. An Aging and Disability Resource Center is slated to move into the third floor of the Government Center where the county's home health program was once based. Part of Gov. Jim Doyle's Family Care initiative and backed by an 11-county consortium, it would provide services to the county's aging and disabled population, according to Pat Schanen, director of the Douglas County Health and Human Services Department. The agency is looking for a few dedicated parking spaces, and Health and Human Services funding is already earmarked for the reconfiguration of the Government Center space. The issue will be discussed at the Thursday Health and Human Services Board meeting.
