It’s official. We are not going to get any help from the Legislature on the renovation of the Starkville police department building. Our optimistic mayor had hoped this legislature would add to its long list of ill-advised legislation this too. It wasn’t to be.
Not that I am against getting some help from the rest of the state for things; I mean, other cities have gotten such assistance, why not us, too? The reality is that without a legitimate needs test, those other cities shouldn’t have gotten money from taxpayers in far-off counties for their local needs and neither should we. That is another discussion for another time.
The dilemma needing a solution is whether to authorize the full-blown all-out renovation of the police station for $5.4 million or to scale back to the plan that is already authorized for bonds in the amount of $3 million. Both amounts get you a renovated building for our police force. One has more bells and whistles and looks a helluva lot better; the other one gets you the necessary upgrades and reconfiguration to make the building safe, functional and accessible.
There is pretty much no divide in local opinions about needing an adequate facility for the police department. We have been on this geographically twisted path for at least 20 years, I thought we had settled on a location for a building able to meet the day-to-day needs of our officers and staff. But no, apparently some board members are thinking of starting the process over.
The question that we should all be asking our aldermen is WHY?
If you have been watching this decades-old saga at all, you will understand this means potentially another 20 years of this ridiculous wrangling. Aldermen Carver and Wynn have both said they want to relook at the options. What do they have against the police department? The red herring of the Cadence Bank building delayed the project by a good year as the board chased down that rabbit hole.
The old city hall site was agreed on and has been analyzed to the tune of about $245,000 of architectural costs. So do we squander another quarter of a million on the next site?
This makes me wonder whose best interests are being served? Certainly not the police department. Does this delay raise some political specter out there that will reveal itself in the next election cycle? It wouldn’t be the first time the police department became a political issue during a municipal election.
Even Alderman Perkins was quoted as saying he would actually vote for a 1-mil tax increase to pay for the renovation of the police station. It was at that point that I felt a seismic or maybe it was a cosmic shift in the universe. I don’t think Alderman Perkins has ever voted on a tax increase; shoot, he doesn’t even vote to pay the city’s bills. So this is really, really big.
About this new Perkins’ position someone noted he was pretty sure folks are ice skating in hell right now.
According to the budget chairman, Scott Maynard, the $3-million version won’t require the additional millage. No need to start over; let’s just get after it and make it happen. If you want the fancy stuff you can come back later when the funds are available and make it prettier.
The Board of Aldermen has to know when to say yes based on priorities and affordability. The police-station issue needs to be put to rest for our community as well as for the police department. It should be a top priority and the city should move on from this stalemate plaguing us through every election since at least 2005.
This is but one of many obligations city elected leaders have to the residents. We have a path to get this particular monkey off our backs. They need to take it and move on to more productive and hopefully less divisive topics.
Of course that doesn’t make for good election politics but it does make for good government.
Lynn Spruill, a former commercial airline pilot, elected official and city administrator owns and manages Spruill Property Management in Starkville. Her email address is [email protected].
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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