Mayor’s commission makes recommendation on Government Center building project

After meeting for almost a year and considering various options, the Mayor’s New Government Center and Judicial Building Commission presented its findings to Columbus Council on Tuesday morning.

The commission expressed a preference for an option that would completely demolish the downtown Government Center complex and replace it with two new buildings - one for a judicial center and the other for city offices.

However, Mayor Teresa Tomlinson is recommending that the city pursue opportunities for the CCG to obtain existing office space for general government use, which could save tens of millions of dollars.

“... Though the commission is concerned that any existing office space for general government use be functional, secure, and safe as well as convey a level of civic dignity worthy of our citizens, such as an opportunity would provide for a lessened capital outlay and still provide for a new judicial center,” the mayor wrote in a letter to council. “... Accordingly, it is my recommendation that Council pursue opportunities of existing office space into which CCG can move the general government functions still remaining at the Government Center, and then, provide for a new or completely renovated Judicial Center, with additional square footage.”

“Initial estimates suggest demolitions and construction of a new Judicial Center at $99,766, 216, which includes over $9 million in projected inflationary costs,” the mayor wrote. “Should existing office space not be found that achieves the goals of CCG and the citizens, then, the Commission’s recommendation of Scenario # 3 stands and should be pursued.”

If the city moves forward with Option 3, the $124,147,320 cost would be funded through a sales tax voters would be asked to approve after a Muscogee County School District tax for special projects expires in 2020. That would maintain the county’s overall sales tax rate at 8 percent.

The commission also had considered two other options: renovating the existing tower and two wings at a cost of $109,926,300 (Option 1); , or demolishing the wings and renovating the tower as strictly a judicial building and adding an adjacent structure for city offices (Option 2), estimated at $114,095,520. The costs do not include expenses for relocation and furniture.

In a survey taken by commission members, about 54 percent voted in favor of Option 3, 36 percent in favor of Option 2 and about 11 percent in favor of Option 1.

In a survey taken by 630 citizens, 65 percent voted for Option 3, 17 percent for Option 2, and 18 percent for Option 1.

Tomlinson, who convened the commission in January, opened Tuesday’s meeting with introductory remarks, describing the building’s deficiencies.

“As you all know it was built in 1971,” she told council. “We’re having an awful lot of system issues with it, system failures, and we’re spending a whole lot of money to repair some things in a building that...otherwise wouldn’t pass code today.”

Other speakers included Superior Court Chief Judge Gil McBride, City Code Enforcement Director John Hudginson, and Maj. Mike Massey of the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Department, as well as architects from 2WR and Hecht-Burdeshaw.

Hudginson said city did a space assessment as part of the research. The existing gross square footage of the Government Center is 277,632 square feet. Projected judicial space needed for the next five to seven years is 335, 504 square feet.

He said it’s difficult to maintain the building because of poor access to certain areas. He said the stairwells at the center of the building are hazardous and wouldn’t meet code requirements if the building was built today.

Massey stressed security concerns such as poor lighting in the parking garage, a shortage of holding cells for inmates and having to transport inmates through the building in elevators used by judges and the general population. The complex, which has two wings, also doesn’t have any fire escapes or sprinklers beyond the ground level.

Councilor Evelyn “Mimi” Woodson asked why conceptual drawings of the buildings didn’t look more like historical buildings in the area. Architects said they didn’t have time to actually design the buildings and the structures in the drawings were just place-holders.

McBride said the courthouse has traditionally existed at the downtown location and the proposed plan is respectful of that heritage. None of the options are inexpensive, he said, but all are as cheap as they ever will be, considering construction costs.

“And finally I will add that all of us were really informed by a certain set of realities that are not always pleasant to face,” he said. “... One of those realities is safety. I will tell you that there is simply no safe way to evacuate a jury from a single jury room in that building, and that’s a reality that many of us would rather not talk about.”

“... We’re dealing with the reality that tragedies do happen,” he said. “... The building is something that simply requires attention.”

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 1:37 PM with the headline "Mayor’s commission makes recommendation on Government Center building project."