Options Beyond Global Purchase Questioned at Meeting

At many recent meetings of the Howell Township Council, the proposed purchase of the Global building as the future town hall has appeared on several agendas. 

At Tuesday night's meeting, it was not on the agenda, but the issue still came up during the public comment portion of the evening. Grace Abramov asked the council if there was a plan for what would happen if negotiations to purchase the Route 9 property do not go through. 

Even as the process really gathered steam over the past few months, members of the council have said that all the steps taken did not assure that the purchase would happen, and Abramov wanted to know what steps were being taken in the case of that happening. "There's always that except or in the case of or something doesn't go through, do you have a secondary plan," she said. 

One of the reasons given for the purchase is to not only consolidate the township's operations, but also to remove employees from buildings that are aging and deteriorating including the engineering building. Abramov cited that structure located just down the road from town hall in her questions put to the council. "Where do you expect to put all these people if these buildings are not functional for them," she said.

Mayor Robert Walsh said that like other decisions made at the dais, he was not looking at hypotheticals or alternatives when it comes to the Global purchase. With all the decisions the council makes, the mayor said he focuses on the issues in front of them rather than possibilities that are not in front of them. Abramov said that approach to this situation was "not acceptable." She added, "I don't think that you can just assume that this is going to happen. It may happen, but I also think that you have to have a backup plan."

Walsh said that over the years that this process has developed the township and the council have looked at alternatives and know of other things they could do, an idea that was elaborated on by Deputy Mayor William Gotto. "I think we have the answers you're looking for already," he said. "It's the other options that were outlined in the Neville Report."

That report, which can be found here was written by architect Wayne Neville and outlined several possible paths for the township to 

Gotto said in his opinion that if the Global purchase falls through, "in a very short period after that decision was made not to buy the Global building, we would decide do we do options two or three," he said. 

Those plans also outlined what would be done with the employees in all the affected buildings including temporary housing and trailers while the construction project was going on. "At least from my own personal perspective, those are the only two other valid options that I've ever heard throughout the whole process," he said when it came to alternatives to Global. 

Councilwoman Susan Schroeder Clark said she concurred with Gotto's assessment of the situation. "I agree with the deputy mayor that I think that this council has through the Neville Report and through the presentations that we've outlined different alternatives," she said. 

At a meeting earlier this month the council passed an ordinance to make $6.9 million available for the purchase of the property. That money would also include all the costs of renovating the Global building and moving the employees to their new location. The ordinance passed by a 4-1 vote with only Councilwoman Pauline Smith voting against and Clark not in attendance.