by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The City Council’s special courthouse committee will meet for the first time today. Assembled by Council president Elaine Brown, the seven member committee will examine project construction costs, evaluate the pros and cons of raising its budget and offer a recommendation, possibly by November.
“The committee I am appointing will fully examine all of the issues relating to the courthouse, from the inception of its proposed design through appropriating the funds to complete it,” said Brown. “This will be a full, fair and thorough process.”
Council member Kevin Hyde chairs the committee. He said at least three more meetings and two public comment sessions will take place over the next several weeks.
“We’re still finalizing our schedule, but we are very interested in opening a solid dialogue and getting as much information as we can,” he said. “Up until this point, it’s been a lot of us submitting questions and getting answers later.”
Hyde said the committee plans to compare two seemingly contrasting bills — one offered by Mayor John Peyton’s office and the other by Council members Lake Ray, Jerry Holland and Glorious Johnson — drafted in an attempt to address growing budget concerns.
Peyton’s bill calls for a budget increase of nearly $40 million. Ray, Holland and Johnson want to suspend current work for two months and use that time to determine if another contractor can deliver a less expensive product.
“Obviously we want to understand the process as best we can,” said Hyde, “so in addition to looking at the various financing vehicles that have been talked about, we’ll likely take the time to do a side-by-side comparison of the two proposals.”
Hyde wouldn’t comment further, saying, “We’re not even approaching this like we have to pick one or the other. We’ll explore every avenue. It may end up with us taking a little from both to make an entirely new proposal.”
Council member Suzanne Jenkins, who serves as vice chair, agreed. Though a supporter of the Peyton plan, she said the final outcome may center around striking a balance between performance and cost.
“There’s a lot of information out there, but I think the one thing we should be looking at is figuring out what we absolutely have to build with respect to functionality and what it will cost to build it,” she said. “It’s as simple as that. Thankfully, we have a very balanced committee to help determine that.
“I’m confident we’ll be able to get through this without any grand standing.”
Rounding out the committee are Holland, Ray, Sharon Copeland, Daniel Davis and Pat Lockett-Felder.
Once a recommendation is made, three Council standing committees will review legislation addressing the courthouse. A full Council vote could come before the end of the year.
“The best outcome I can see is for us to have a recommendation by Nov. 9,” said Hyde, “but we’re not going to rush through this. We’ll take the time to get the input we need.”
The committee meets today at 2 p.m in Council Chambers.