City hall space needs grow with population
Columbians may not remember that the city launched its own space program in the 1960s.
Of course, our space program had nothing to do with rocketry. It was about the city government’s future office space needs, and it began with a June 1966 report from consultant SUA Inc. of Beverly Hills, Calif. SUA inventoried city government facilities, surveyed employees and projected space needs to the far-off year of 1990.
When I came to Columbia in 1960, the city government inhabited the Howard and Gentry buildings and the building housing the fire and police departments. I recall beginning work on Feb. 1 that year in the Howard Building, and I noted that the structure had been built during the Great Depression in 1932, the year I was born. Although we have aged together, with its rehabilitation complete and the city celebrating its rededication in May, the building has an unfair advantage that my doctor can’t match.
As director of the Public Works Department and acting planning director, I worked closely with the SUA consultants. Commissioned by Mayor John H. Longwell and the Columbia City Council, with implementation beginning under City Manager Don Allard, the SUA study provided a detailed analysis of what existed at the time and what was needed for the future, based upon projected growth.
The report made some interesting predictions, estimating a 75 percent increase in Columbia’s population from 47,600 in 1966 to 83,450 in 1990; it actually turned out to be only 69,101 in the 1990 census. The number of city employees was expected to increase from 414 in 1966 to 853 in 1990, and the total number of full-time employees in 1990 indeed came to 850. Today, with new programs and city growth, the number of full-time permanent employees has grown to 1,195.
As city manager, each year I compared the growth in the number of city employees to the growth of the city population and dwelling units in order to make sure city government did not get too large. The growth rate has remained about the same, except when new programs were added after approval by the voters or city council, such as the storm water utility, recycling, and the offices of Cultural Affairs and Volunteer Services.
The 1966 report’s detailed analysis provided suggestions for sizing offices and organizing them to produce efficient government that best served the public, and it suggested locations for structures recommended in the report. Although I did not personally agree with all of SUA’s recommendations, many of those recommendations were later implemented.
The report cited crowding and the deteriorating condition of city buildings. The old City Hall had a “severe settling problem,” and the Police, Fire and Jail facility was inadequate, outmoded and a “firetrap.” The report stated that the city’s yards, garages and maintenance facilities were too dispersed; more space was needed for purchasing, inventory control, mail, records storage, data processing, the switchboard, the municipal court and the airport.
The firm recommended a civic-center complex amid Broadway, Locust, Providence and Fifth streets and a new central garage near the Water and Light power plant with separate facilities for the Parks and Recreation Department and city wastewater operations. It estimated the cost of a new 33,750-square-foot municipal building at $844,000, a 13,375 square-foot police facility at $337,500, a 2,000-square-foot jail at $80,000, an 8,750-square-foot fire headquarters at $219,000, underground parking at $1 million, a new 4,500-square-foot health facility and storage at $162,500, a city bus garage at $72,500, and a central garage for city vehicles at $168,300. It added up to a grand total of $2,883,800.
Instead of building a new civic complex, in 1972 the city jointly purchased with the county the Daniel Boone Tavern for $160,000, following a fire in the building. The city and county rehabbed the building at a cost of about $1.5 million, prorating the costs according to each entity’s inhabited area. Later, the city purchased the county’s 50 percent share, even though the county insisted that the city pay 50 percent of both the original purchase and rehabilitation costs.
In 1985, shortly after becoming city manager, I met in a public session with Mayor Rodney Smith, and the City Council and recommended that we purchase the remaining land at Broadway, Walnut, 7th and 8th streets when the land became available. Although this block would not support space for all offices, it would provide a focal point and be the central building for a “campus” of city buildings grouped in close proximity for efficient government operations and better service to residents and customers. The location was right, and we preferred to preserve our historic buildings.
I recall one councilperson asking how I could believe that Farm & Home Savings and Loan would ever sell its building at the northwest corner of 8th and Broadway. However, for once, my instinct was right. Months later, Farm & Home announced it had sold out to Roosevelt Bank, which would now have two buildings in Columbia. After I immediately called the new owners and obtained appraisals, we negotiated a very fair price on both the building and its contents. It turned out the drive-in window had separate ownership, so the city also purchased it along with the Gates building to the north, which had two separate owners.
The final two purchases necessary to complete the block were the land under the east portion of the Daniel Boone Building, which was owned by the Miller and Sapp estates was on a 99-year lease, and the parking lot between the Parking Plaza and the Daniel Boone Building, which was owned by the Crum estate. We purchased these properties just prior to my retirement in 2006, and they represent the last of my many land purchases for the city. The Parking Plaza had been constructed earlier on the north half of the block. The basic design allows for an additional level to be added, if needed, at that location. The elevation of one floor’s distance allows for a ramp connection to the Daniel Boone Building.
In 1936, the city purchased the Gentry Building at the southwest corner of 7th and Broadway for a library and later rehabbed the building as a new home primarily for the Water and Light Department and other city offices. It now houses the Parks and Recreation, Cultural Affairs and Volunteer Services departments.
As recommended in the 1966 space report, the city built a new bus facility west of the power plant on land adjacent to a new central garage. The bus office on North 7th Street then closed, and the equipment maintenance facility located under the current police station was moved to the central garage. Police Department offices took over that area, along with a parking ramp designed for potential offices or other uses to be built above the ramp level.
During my tenure as acting city manager, the city reached agreement with the county to handle occupants of the city jail. The agreement allowed the city to close the city jail, and Water and Light offices moved from the Gentry Building and occupied the top level of the Police Building. Meanwhile, the City/County Health Department continued to occupy the lower level of the Gentry Building until just a few years ago, when the city purchased the old Nowell’s supermarket site on West Worley and worked out a joint agreement with the county.
The Fire Department’s administrative offices occupied space in several downtown buildings until the city constructed its new headquarters and fire station on North Tenth Street adjacent to the Wabash Station, where the Transit operations are based.
In the 1990s, the city hired several consulting firms to study space needs for the future, and their analyses in a similarly detailed fashion as the SUA report, however they provided more flexibility in regard to potential organizational changes for the city.
We proposed two tax ballot issues, which failed as part of larger ballot issue packages, but the need for more office space was not resolved and costs continued to rise. Mayor Darwin Hindman and the city council appointed a special committee with broad-based experience to further study space needs and make recommendations. The committee hired a consultant, and together they visited the overcrowded offices. They recommended renovating the Howard and Gentry buildings and renovating and expanding the Daniel Boone building.
City staff and I then submitted a financial plan that included each utility paying a prorated share of the structures based on a percentage of space used. General government funds would be used to cover the remaining costs without any new taxes. The process would be handled similarly to how building maintenance was handled, on a business-like basis assessing costs to each program. After publicly discussing the plans and preliminary rendering of the proposed Daniel Boone expansion, the council adopted budgets that reflexed prorated costs and began setting aside $700,000 each budget year from the general fund. For example, the Water and Light Department, which had paid off remodeling their floor in the police building, would set aside funds for offices in the Daniel Boone Building. We prepared a plan to relocate offices, some temporarily, during the phased rehab and expansion process. Only a limited amount of office space, for the Finance Department at Eighth and Cherry Street, has been rented for the building program.
Since my retirement, renovation on the Howard and Gentry buildings has been completed, the Gates building has been removed, and rehabilitation work is under way on the Daniel Boone Building after ample opportunities for public comment. As the mayor, council and staff complete the upgrade program, all Columbians and their visitors can be proud of the “New City Hall” to come.
Although it took 40 years after the SUA report, the centerpiece of Columbia’s 1960s “space program” can soon become a reality.