During Monday night’s Henderson City Council meeting, council members debated not only whether to continue the city’s relationship with Energy Systems Group, but also whether to sell the Municipal Building.
An ESG representative who spoke to the council explained that a significant portion of the projected savings from moving the city government into the Operations & Service Center would be realized in eliminating the overhead for the Municipal Building, such as telephones, insurance, utilities and related items.
Mayor Clem Seifert said one feature of the project is to sell the current city hall to raise the fund balance. The ESG representative said ESG does not factor the sale of the building into the savings it projects that the city would realize. The projected savings, the representative emphasized, are from funds that are already being spent.
Council member Ranger Wilkerson expressed concern with abandoning the Municipal Building, the former Jubilee Hospital. He reminded the council that the structure is the first city hall Henderson ever had.
“I’m not here to give city hall away,” Wilkerson said.
Council member Mike Rainey, who helped push the proposed move to the Operations Center onto the front burner in the spring, said his original suggestion was to eliminate the expense of operating the Municipal Building.
Seifert said the sale of the building is “critical to this process.”
Wilkerson expressed fear that the current city hall would fall into disrepair. “Look at city garage,” he said, in reference to the previous facility on Ramsey Street. He also wondered how much room for growth is available in the Operations Center, formerly a Lowe’s home improvement building.
“How long until elbows is bumpin’?” Wilkerson asked the council.
The ESG representative said there are growth opportunities within the current plan by reducing the space allocated for the employee break room. He told the council that the walls are modular and can be reconfigured based on need.
He also indicated to the council that he was reluctant to commit further ESG resources until the council was ready to proceed.
In the end, the council passed an amendment to a previous resolution to pursue project approval from the state’s Local Government Commission before deciding to proceed. The issue of the final disposition of the current city hall was assigned to the Finance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee.