One of the biggest surprises – and announcements – from Mayor Tom Henry’s State of the City address had little to do with city government at all.Business executives Friday urged city and county leaders to get past their squabbling and reach an office-space solution that will benefit the entire community.
The joint city-county task force heard from nearly 20 people at its public hearing. The vast majority of participants were from local businesses that wanted the two governments to find a way to continue working together.
But cutting to the heart of the matter probably better than any of the executives was Mike Anderson, a local developer who rehabs run-down homes in the central city.
He said it is already difficult to do business with the city and county, saying he had to go between government buildings five times for one recent project.
Putting those departments in one building on one floor would make it that much simpler for developers to do their work, he said.
“This is one community, it ought to work easier,” Anderson said. “It needs to be easier to conduct business.”
Friday was the group’s fifth meeting to examine how to best use the space in the City-County Building and Renaissance Square, 200 E. Berry St. The city bought Renaissance Square for $7.3 million and has committed the same amount to renovations at the building to ensure the city’s police department gets a new headquarters.
Mayor Tom Henry, the City Council and Allen County commissioners have supported a plan to put the city and county police headquarters in the City-County Building and other offices in Renaissance Square.
The Allen County Council, however, balked at spending more than $3 million on any building plan. Estimates show the county would be required to spend between $5 million and $6 million for the two governments to share the buildings.
County Councilwoman Maye Johnson, D-1st, told the committee she supports putting the police in the City-County Building and the governments should move forward with the plan. Councilman Darren Vogt, R-3rd, however, said the group should see whether a plan can be created to use the buildings without any more money.
If not, then it should look at how to best pay for the extra costs.
The task force had minimal discussion Friday, but it plans to discuss whether it should continue next week. Henry set a deadline of Feb. 5 for the discussions, saying he doesn’t want to keep wasting time if the county is not willing to budge.
The business community pleaded with the leaders to budge, saying having local governments that work together sends a good message to existing and potential business.
Scott Glaze, president of Fort Wayne Metals Research Products Corp., said decisions shouldn’t be made simply on what is the cheapest upfront solution. Instead, it is more important to make the decision, he said, that best puts the community in a position to succeed in the future.
“I urge you to think in the long term,” he said.
