The deal to obtain land for a new Bartholomew County highway garage has been completed.
A contract to purchase 25.07 acres of land off East 25th Street, next to the Clay Township Fire Department, was unanimously approved Monday by the Bartholomew County commissioners.
When 22 highway employees make their move, tentatively set for the spring of 2020, the new highway garage will replace a deteriorating and outdated 66-year-old facility at State Street and Gladstone Avenue in Columbus.
The land for the new garage east of Petersville is being purchased from the Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District for approximately $5,000 an acre, county attorney Grant Tucker said.
The contract lists the total purchase price at $125,000.
While Monday’s contract remains contingent upon the land being rezoned from agriculture to public-governmental purposes, commissioners chairman Larry Kleinhenz said he didn’t anticipate any roadblocks with the zoning request.
Audience member Mike Lovelace was critical of the commissioners for not first getting a land appraisal, which Tucker said is not legally required when one governmental entity purchases property from another.
“I saw no reason to waste $3,500 on an appraisal when we already know the land has more value than what we’re paying,” Kleinhenz said.
The waste management district had originally purchased most of the land for about $4,800 an acre in 1997 — about $200 an acres less that the current purchase price, Kleinhenz said. At a recent sale, similar farmland was being sold for about $8,000 an acre, the commissioners chairman said.
While some residents say the county shouldn’t be paying for land it already owns, Kleinhenz said there are complexities in this deal that most people don’t understand.
For example, both the Solid Waste Management District and Columbus Regional Health are technically both part of county government. Nevertheless, both the district and the hospital operate at administrative and budgetary levels completely different from those governing traditional county government, Kleinhenz said.
The waste management district has a variety of income sources that includes fees and grants. It bought that land with money from its own budget for its own purposes more than 20 years ago, Kleinhenz said.
So if the land isn’t going to be used for waste disposal, the commissioners feel it’s appropriate the county should purchase it through traditional funding, Kleinhenz said.
The design of the new highway garage has entered its second phase. Updates on the design progression are expected to be discussed with the commissioners on Jan. 7 and Feb. 25.
On Nov. 13, the Bartholomew County Council authorized selling up to $6 million in bonds and designating that the money be used to construct and equip the new garage.
But the council doesn’t need to know what the exact costs of the highway garage will be until one week before Feb. 19, which is the tentative sale date for the bonds, council president Mark Gorbett said.
That will give council members time to consider using money from other sources, including reserve or Rainy Day funds, to lower the bond to as low as $4 million, Gorbett said.
On Monday, the commissioners approved using up to $1.5 million of their economic development income tax fund revenue to make payments on the bond through at least next year.
According to the most recent timeline, final construction documents are due March 18. At that time, Taylor Brothers Construction Co. staff members will have broken down various components of construction into several individual projects, Kleinhenz said.
By allowing several smaller companies to bid on different projects on April 22, overall construction costs can be reduced significantly, Kleinhenz said.
The commissioners hope to award all the projects April 29 and hold a ground-breaking ceremony June 1, commissioner Rick Flohr said.
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The following are major dates tentatively set for the new Bartholomew County Highway Garage to be built off East 25th Street near Petersville.
2019
March 18 – Construction documents presented for approval.
March 27 – Bids requested
April 22 – Bid opening
May 20 – Ground breaking ceremony
2020
March – Construction completed
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