Possible Purchase of Global Building Takes Another Step Forward

With a considerable turnout on Tuesday night, the Howell Township Council held a special meeting to discuss the possible purchase of the Global Building as a new location for Town Hall.

The meeting started with a brief presentation from representatives of the Birdsall Services Group on some of the options the council had when it came to the potential purchase. The presentation also compared buying the property with pros and cons of fixing the current office space.

After a lengthy public discussion, the council voted 3-1 to make $6.9 million available for the purchase of the new building.

Casting the lone vote against the ordinance was Councilwoman Pauline Smith, while Councilwoman Susan Schroeder Clark was not at the meeting. That left Mayor Robert Walsh, Deputy Mayor William Gotto and Councilman Robert Nicastro to vote in favor of making the money available. 

While the Global building is roughly 20 years old, almost 80 years newer than the current building, Smith said she saw the Preventorium Road base as the better bet in the long run for the residents. "One big problem is that in a lot of our minds, the Global building is a gamble and this is an investment," she said. 

While the passage of Tuesday night's ordinance did not directly put the wheels into motion for the purchase of the Global Building, Smith said she would spend the time between now and next month when the ordinance will come up for formal adoption doing research on other options to buying the Global property.

Tuesday's meeting brought up some of the same issues and ideas that had come up at previous meetings in the past. Many residents expressed their displeasure at the idea of buying the global building for a variety of reasons.

Several residents argued that the Global building is considerably bigger than the township needs. Even with the planned consolidation of several buildings to being under one roof at the Global property, there would still be plenty of room that the Township would likely look to lease out down the road. 

Other objections from residents have centered on the condition of the Global building, which even the Birdsall report, showed needed work over the next 10 years to bring it to its full potential. 

Councilwoman Smith pointed to two particular areas of concern for her in that regard. One being the condition of the heating and air conditioning units, and the other being whether the building would be properly accessible to the physically handicapped residents of the town. "It's my contention that what's there is useless," she said of the air conditioning units. 

The representatives from Birdsall said that they recommended the units be replaced strictly based on their age, but that a visual inspection showed they were currently operational. 

With the current town hall building being almost 100 years old, there is also a clear emotional and sentimental attachment that has grown over the years. And while the council has never said that the purchase of the Global building would mean tearing down the current building, many expressed a desire to see it left standing and continued to be used as is.

Local resident Grace Abramov said she would rather see the township invest the money in bringing the current town hall up to where it should be rather than buying the new building. "I'm not against spending taxpayers money," she said. "I would rather see you spend $13 million and do something here than spend $6 million on a building that may not last 100 years like this building has."

She was also part of a group of citizens who said that they would prefer that the decision be left to the residents through a referendum than a vote of the five council members. "They want to have the final say. I know you were voted by all of us with good faith, believe me with very good faith that you would do the bidding of the people of this town. The majority, and I'm telling you the majority of us do not want us to go to Global."

With the history of the building and all the reasons people go to the complex, many people also said that it is as close as the town comes to having a hub where people can gather. That includes in the winter when the hill from town hall down to the area near the library and the police station is filled with sledders whenever there is enough snow on the ground.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Gotto said if he had had his way something should have been done a long time ago to remedy the situation one way or another. Unfortunately, he said he believes that the time has come where no action is no longer an option. "The goal that we should be trying to accomplish here is to come up with the best solution to a long standing problem that exist in our facilities as we know them today," he said.

Agreeing with Gotto on that point, Smith said it was the state of the current buildings that had her worried about the potential new one. "The gamble is that we are successful in maintaining it without it being an extra burden to the taxpayers and are still able to function and take care of all the necessities of the township," she said. 

Mayor Walsh said he believes that with the buildings that would be consolidated into the new location, it would be beneficial for the town in terms of efficiency and cost savings. The newer building, he said, would be more cost efficient, energy efficient and more structurally sound than some of the others including the Recreation building, the engineering department and the Howell Fire Bureau. 

The mayor also agreed that things should have been done to avoid long term problems in the past. "A lot of tough decisions have been made over the last six years," he said. Walsh said that in his opinion, "This town for a long time was penny wise and dollar foolish." He added, "Some major things have had to be done in the last six to eight years because of things that should have been done 20, 25, 30 years ago."

He pointed to projects including putting sewers along Route 9 as an example of that. Like many people, the mayor said he as "a soft spot," in his heart for the current town hall, but did not believe that was enough to stop the township from going forward with looking for a new home. 

The money allocated for the possible purchase of the building plus another $500 thousand for things like legal fees and engineering costs is the absolute maximum that Gotto said he is comfortable with spending. "I do feel that we have taken the administration and held them accountable and said I am not going to vote for this until you guarantee you can maintain it," he said after the meeting. "Don't make me a promise, tell me how you're going to do it, Who's going to do it, how many people are going to work there."

If the ordinance is ultimately adopted and the sale goes through, Gotto said he believes that it would be enough to cover not only the price of the building, but also to do the repairs recommended for the first five years of ownership as well as the costs of relocating the right employees into the new facility. 

The ordinance will be up for final adoption at the June 14 workshop meeting.