Entries in County Board (1)
Blind Pig finds Acorn!
Who doesn't have a story about their County Board screwing up a building project?
Anyone out there raising their hand?
I didn't think so.
For some reason County Boards everywhere manage to bungle almost every building project they attempt. Every now and then they don't, but as the old Russian saying goes...
Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in awhile.
Which brings us to Allen County, Indiana. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette editorial tells us the sad, sad story.
The Allen County commissioners’ lack of planning and leadership in managing the county’s office space is going to cost taxpayers – again.
Last week, the Sheriff’s Department announced plans to spend at least $47,000 to make much needed repairs to the Kidder Building, off Carroll Road. It’s the latest example of how the Allen County commissioners are failing to manage county assets and prevent wasteful spending.The county has no choice but make the repairs to the Kidder Building. It is in deplorable condition, and basic repairs must be made to ensure a safe workplace. An entire generation of Fort Wayne residents has been born, raised and educated since the sheriff’s staff moved into that building as a “temporary” measure.
Meanwhile, the former credit union at New Haven Avenue and Meyer Road, which the county bought for $336,000 in June 2006 to house the Sheriff’s Department headquarters, continues to sit, empty, not a sheriff’s car or deputy in sight.
And this is not the first time that plans have fallen apart after the county commissioners acquired a building to house the sheriff’s headquarters. In 2001, the county accepted the former Eckrich meat processing plant, on Osage Street, as a gift from John V. Tippmann Sr., thereby losing property-tax revenue Tippmann was paying on the building (about $24,000 in 2001).
But the commissioners sold the Eckrich building in 2003 after they discovered renovation estimates were $9 million. The property was appraised for $800,000; the commissioners sold it for $450,000. “Shrewd” does not seem to be an appropriate word here.
Now the County Board is working on new office space for the Health Department.
Here's hoping they find the acorn this time.
Al Arnold
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