The city is selling Otter Creek Golf course, but with a few stipulations. Parking meters could create more churn in downtown parking. And the new county court services building paves the way for a proposed conference center site.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: The airport here needs a new tower and you just didn't get the funds that you really hoped for. How do you move forward?
Lienhoop: We were a little disappointed, we thought we had gotten the appropriate head nod from the FAA that we were in line for a grant to construct a new tower. And what we found out was that the money went to a little bit different use. Instead of completing a couple of new towers in our region, they chose to try to modernize or to refurbish about 20. And so, I kind of get it and they were able to take a finite amount of money and affect 20 places rather than that same finite amount of money affecting two places.
So our different path would be to apply for a grant for the engineering and design of a tower. And we might be able to do that say yet this year, in anticipation of requesting funds for construction in a later year. And the whole idea is that by breaking it up into two smaller numbers, we maybe enhance our chances of success.
Hren: The Court Services Building is almost done. And we've talked that it's part of a bigger project of moving things around downtown to make way for what you hope to be a conference center.
Lienhoop: Yeah, the the hotel conference center sort of took a hiatus throughout the pandemic, and we've kind of brought that back up on the table. We've had some meetings and discussions with the developer that we've chosen Sprague Hotel Developers. One of the first steps in terms of trying to make that happen is to clear the ground.
We've identified a parking lot that is currently owned by the county, and the Court Services building is there at the corner of Third and Franklin. And so we want to tear that building down. But in order to do that, we had to move the activity that's going on there to another location. And so in partnership with Bartholomew County, we have constructed a new building that we call the Court Services building, it's on First Street immediately south of the jail. And yeah, it's 98.9% done.
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Hren: The city sold Otter Creek Golf Course, what were the terms and why?
Lienhoop: We sort of started on this path in late 2020, maybe 2019. But what we realized when Cummins sort of stepped back from an active management role at Otter Creek that the city found itself with 54 holes of golf. And that's just more golf than what we needed.
In January of this year, we issued a request for proposal, we got a respondent, and we've been negotiating with that person ever since we announced in the media, I think that was last week's board works meeting, we approved authorization for me to sign a contract to affect the sale. The whole notion was to find a buyer who had respect for the course and for its history. It's still the only Robert Trent Jones course or design in Indiana.
We also realized too, that there is a significant amount of financial commitment that comes with that and so it was more important for us to receive from the eventual buyer a commitment to continue to invest. There are some improvements that need to be made to the course. Mr. Robert Haddad Jr. is committed to working with those to make any investment that's needed to bring those up to par. No pun intended.
And so what we've got from our buyer, Mr. Haddad Jr. is a commitment to spend $5 million to address these rehabilitation or refurbishment needs. We're really pleased.
Hren: Is paid parking coming downtown? I know that we talked about this awhile ago. And I think that's when the study was being done. But there's been some new information?
Lienhoop: Paid parking is a subject that just doesn't want to go away. What we've got are some folks who want to ensure that there is turnover among the people who parked downtown. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that some people show up and then park all day long, it was a little bit more of an issue before the pandemic than it is today.
Right now, you're allowed to park in downtown Columbus for three hours at no charge. But we expect you to move after the end of the third hour. That might be replaced by a metered solution, whether that meter is the old style, individual meters, where you put a quarter in, or whether we do something a little bit more modern, like I've seen in Bloomington and Indianapolis, where you've got electronic meters that you use in conjunction with an app on your phone.
It's just really an easy way to manage your parking, and an easy way to be reminded when it's your turn to go move your car. No decision has been reached, and it's going to be a while before we get to a decision. I don't think it's going to be any great windfall. And really, the meter funds would go to just maintain the system, because you'll still have to pay for attendants to go out and enforce those folks who overstay their welcome. And then there'll be costs associated with the installation and the maintenance of whatever apparatus we choose.
Hren: It's that time of the year we've been talking with all the mayors about budgeting, it's not a exciting thing for those listening at home, I know. But it's a huge part of what you do.
Lienhoop: It's a lot like watching paint dry. But, it's critically important to what we try to do here, and we're trying to provide all the services that people want out of a municipality. At the same time, we try to manage the tax rate that we charge. Last year, we were fortunate that the rate went down - went from about $1.15 per $100 of assessed valuation to a $1.11. And what we're going to try to do is stick around $1.11. But it may get back up there to a $1.15. I mean, we just don't know yet.
A critical component of our budget this year is what we pay our people. We really face it into two areas. We're talking first responders. We have seen some turnover in those areas that we we kind of attributed to a little competition with other providers of those kinds of services. And so for those folks, we anticipate a nearly 8% raise, and that's combination of inflation to some of the inflationary pressures that we receive. But it's also a little what I would call competition.
With respect to non-sworn, 6% and the City of Columbus employs about 420, 530 full time equivalents. And the last time I checked, our open positions were close to 20. So it's not a convenient place to be when you think you're lean to begin with. It's not a convenient place to be when a lot of what you do is essential services for our community. So it's going to be a little bit of a challenge this year. But yeah, it all starts about now and will conclude sometime around the end of October.
