by Joe Sullivan
City government moving out of the City County Building would be a move in the wrong direction. Instead, the city and the county should be focused on more collaboration and potential consolidation of duplicative functions—steps best accomplished by working together in close proximity.
It's true that a contemplated city move to the Farragut Building or some other downtown location would free up space in City County for expansion of the downtown jail. But the county is already looking to meet any need that may arise for additional jail space at its Maloneyville Road detention facility. And it would be myopic to let a jail drive the city and county apart when the greater need is to bring the two governments closer together.
Full-fledged consolidated government has been rejected by the voters several times and isn't likely to be accomplished anytime soon. But short of that, there's a lot of potential for achieving efficiencies, economies, and enhanced public service through combining administrative and support functions that are now conducted separately. Accounting, human resources, and purchasing all fit this profile as does possible consolidation of engineering and parks and recreation departments. Achieving integration of any of these functions won't be easy and may not be practical or efficacious. But they all deserve serious consideration—consideration that hasn't been forthcoming up to now.
It's particularly surprising that Mayor Victor Ashe would be considering a relocation at this late stage of his lame-duck administration. Any decision of this magnitude, or even its evaluation, should be left to his successor who will be elected in the fall.
Mayoral candidate Bill Haslam has made greater cooperation and coordination between city and the county a major theme of his campaign. He's already very close with County Executive Mike Ragsdale, who shares that view. But close proximity between the two, if Haslam is elected, will facilitate a close working relationship on matters extending to economic development and other joint endeavors.
Haslam's principal opponent, Madeline Rogero, hasn't placed as much emphasis on possibilities for combining city and county functions up to now. But she's been equally clear that the city and the county need to work more closely together on many fronts.
Along with sending a bad signal, a city move out of the City County Building would also pose a number of other problems, both present and prospective.
For one, it would make life more difficult for lots of people seeking resolution of matters involving both the city and the county or other arms of local government now domiciled under one roof. A prime example is developers and builders seeking permits or plans that involve approval of both city departments and the Metropolitan Planning Commission. Instead of one-stop shopping, they'd have to shuttle between two locations. Coordination between MPC's staff and the city's building code and engineering departments would also be impeded.
Beyond that, converting the Farragut Building, in particular, into a city hall runs afoul of the design framework for downtown that's emerging under the auspices of the Nine Counties. One Vision process. 9C.1V's consultant, Crandall Arambula, envisions the block of Gay Street that includes the Farragut Building as a prime retail street but stresses that an unbroken string of stores to hold shopper's attention is a key to its success. It's hard to imagine a city hall festooned by shops on its ground floor.
Then there's the not-so-little matter of parking. A much-publicized shortage of parking for office workers will be compounded if a planned cineplex comes to fruition on the same block of Gay Street before even taking into account spaces needed to support a retail resurgence. Arguably, as many of the city's 1,600 employees as now park in the City County Building garage could walk the five blocks to work in the Farragut Building, or possibly take a trolley. But this would mean overcoming a prevalent Knoxville aversion to walking more than two or, at most, three blocks to work. So a multi-million-dollar new garage would probably be required at a time when the city is so financially strapped that it's unclear whether another garage long planned to support Market Square redevelopment will get funded.
Ashe is clear that the city is not prepared to incur any of the cost of acquiring and renovating the 87,000 square-foot Farragut building—a cost he places at around $15 million. That puts the financing ball back on the county's court. In addition to more jail space, the county has a prospective need for an additional courtroom. And office space has gotten so tight in the 200,000 square feet of the City County Building occupied by the county that two departments (Parks and Recreation along with Purchasing) have recently been moved to other locations.
Still, the initiative for taking over the 100,000 square feet in the building that the city occupies didn't come from Ragsdale. Rather, it was the brainchild of developer Dan Culp who is a part owner of the Farragut Building and eager to handle its renovation for the city's use. The garrulous Culp says that, "Ragsdale has done a back-pedal and a half on me. I told him he'd better come with an open checkbook, but now he's saying he's not going to spend anything."
So the whole issue of the city and the county no longer cohabiting the City County Building may be moot. I surely hope so.
May 1, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 18
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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