One-time 'done deal' reaches crossroads
By KEVIN WALTERS
Staff Writer Tennessean
FRANKLIN -After months of indecision about Franklin's police headquarters, Mayor John Schroer and aldermen tonight finally have to make up their minds about the project.
Aldermen will either accept or reject builder R.G. Anderson Inc.'s $26 million bid to construct the 93,000-square-foot building that would take up a city block along Columbia Avenue.
If aldermen reject the bid, Alderman Dan Klatt warns that city officials face an increase in the project's costs and "most assuredly" adding two years to its completion time.
"It will never be cheaper to construct this building than it is today," Klatt wrote aldermen in a four-page memo. "Construction and material costs are escalating at rates from 10 percent to 12 percent per year."
Aldermen first deferred accepting the bid back in December because they wanted to hear Mayor John Schroer's pitch to move the headquarters from the site to the Longview development planned at the former Werthan property farther south on Columbia Avenue. The 45-acre Longview development is zoned to include restaurants, banks and office space, among other uses.
Schroer weighs options
Since his election in October, Schroer has been a frequent and harsh critic of the city's longstanding Columbia Avenue site plans. Schroer said he would save taxpayers about $7.5 million by moving the project and redeveloping the property the city already condemned and cleared for the building.
Schroer has been in Guatemala for two weeks on a church mission trip and did not return a call for comment Monday.
However, in an interview he gave before leaving the country, Schroer left the door open to changing his mind.
"I will say it's possible that I could rethink that position," Schroer said.
The city's investment in the land on Columbia Avenue weighed on Alderman Clyde Barnhill's mind heading into tonight's meeting.
At last count in December, city officials have spent $6.5 million on condemning land, architects' fees, site demolition and other costs for the police station site just south of Five Points.
"We've made a conscientious effort to put it there," Barnhill said. "We've condemned the property. We put people out of business,
and now we're suddenly saying we want to move it someplace else. I have a real hang-up with that."
Downtown Neighborhood Association members are supporting the existing plan. David Morris, DNA president, wrote a letter of support to aldermen saying "the timely redevelopment" of the existing City Hall in downtown depends on the police headquarters staying on schedule.
Contact Kevin Walters at 771-5472 or kewalters@tennessean.com
