Here’s how 58 city facilities landed on the ‘F List’ for poor conditions

You may have noticed that some facilities owned and managed by the Columbus Consolidated Government aren’t quite up to snuff these days.

If so, you’re not alone.

At a recent Columbus Council meeting, Deputy City Manager Lisa Goodwin unveiled an “F List” with 58 dilapidated facilities. She said some need to be renovated, and others totally replaced, at the tune of millions of dollars.

There’s a growing list of other facilities, such as the Civic Center, on a “D List” that also need significant attention, she said.

Work to upgrade the facilities has been postponed over the years due to lack of finances, she said, but the city can no longer afford to defer the problem.

“ A lot of things we’re doing is we’re putting out fires when it comes to facilities,” Goodwin said. “We’re bandaging them, but we’ve got to replace.”

She said the buildings are aging and there’s just no way to get around it.

“It’s easy to build; the hard part is maintaining,” she added.

Some facilities on the “F” list are:

• All park restrooms
• Outdoor swimming pools
• RiverWalk Signage
• Promenade gazebos
• Woodruff Farm Soccer Complex
• Carver Park
• Britt David Park
• South Commons (A.J. McClung Stadium, ball parks, etc.)
• Flat Rock Park
• Cooper Creek Tennis Center
• Park field scoreboards
• Concession stands at various parks
• Various park lighting, walking trails and athletic fields

Goodwin spoke extensively about problems at park restrooms. She said the city spends more money trying to maintain those facilities than others throughout the city.

Yet, every one of the restrooms gets an F, she said, because of the vandalism that occurs daily.

“We have done everything we know to do to eliminate and to minimize that, even for the new one on the (Frank K. Bridge on 14th Street),” she said. “... We’ve had to close it to just be able to open it on event days, when there are things going on.

“... The homeless population, of course, gets in there and they sleep in it, they bath in it and they tear it up,” she continued. “And so, we actually had to put a gate over the doors, to lock it down.”

Goodwin showed photos of a public restroom at Bay Avenue on the RiverWalk that was significantly damaged by fire. She said it’s not uncommon for homeless people to light up at restrooms around the city for heat and other reasons.

She said city staff cringes whenever they hear more discussion about building another restroom.

“We know we need it, but we don’t want to have to deal with it because we know before you build it, before it’s complete, there’s damage that will be done to it,” she said.

To address the problem, the city is considering using seamless,stainless steel features. That would allow maintenance workers to hose down the restrooms without damaging walls and flooring.

And then there are all the outdoor pools, which are about 20 years old, Goodwin continued. She said there was a leakage problem at one of the pools last summer, and consultants were brought in to help to determine where the water was coming from and where it was going.

“…We have to pump 5, 6, 7,000 dollars into one of those pools every year just to have them operational for eight weeks,” she said. “That’s a problem, and we know that’s a problem. ... We have to do it because we know the children in this community expect to have those opportunities in the summertime, but we’re to that point where we can’t keep doing that.

Goodwin also mentioned the need for major improvements at Flat Rock Park and South Commons, which includes A.J. McClung Stadium and other ball parks.

To renovate the 58 facilities it would cost the city about $31.3 million, Goodwin said. To totally replace them, could cost an estimated $485 million.

After hearing the presentation, Councilor Glenn Davis said he didn’t see any way out of the situation other than pursuing another tax initiative or taking on long-term debt.

City Manager Isaiah Hugley said the city has about 29 people and under a half a million dollars in the General Fund to cover over 670 facilities, including monuments and memorials, all over the city.

Goodwin said the Facilities Maintenance budget includes $200,000 for Parks and Rec, $265,000 for public safety, $440,000 for the General Fund and $384,000 for OLOST facilities, amounting to $1.29 million for maintenance and upkeep.

“Public Works is a labor intensive organization, much like the city government, and once you fund your labor, there’s just not a lot of money to fund ongoing maintenance of facilities,” said Hugley. “And so, there’s a lot of patch-work going on. We do what we can, but the money is just not there.”

This story was originally published February 1, 2018 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Here’s how 58 city facilities landed on the ‘F List’ for poor conditions."