by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The City is going to help River Region Human Services after all, just not quite in the manner originally planned.
After spending well over a year wrangling over the old Job Corps building in Springfield, the City has agreed to help River Region fund an expansion project of their current facility rather than relocate to the Springfield building — a move vehemently opposed by many Springfield residents and business owners.
Brad Thoburn, the City’s chief of government affairs, has been working on the project and said River Region does have control of the building thanks to a recent decision by the General Service Administration’s Health and Human Services division. However, the City made it very clear at the time that it would never grant the necessary permits to allow River Region to operate an adult drug rehabilitation facility out of the building.
Thoburn said River Region has since decided against occupying the building. However, since the GSA did convey the building to River Region, the organization is now looking to the City for help paying $1.5 million worth of property taxes that are due today (Monday).
“This is a cost that River Region Human Services cannot afford to assume,” said River Region CEO Derya Williams in a letter to Mayor John Peyton.
Williams said River Region “had no idea that any cost incurred would expose us to excessive financial risk. We understood that the City of Jacksonville would underwrite these costs and assist us in making this project work. To date, this issue remains unresolved.”
Thoburn said the City met with River Region officials Friday and opted not to help with insurance costs.
“It was an interesting idea and one worth thinking about,” said Thoburn, who will become the assistant director of planning and policy next month. “But, at the end of the day, we couldn’t do it.”
Thoburn cited costs as the driving factor in the decision not to underwrite property insurance costs.
“It was just too costly,” said Thoburn, adding he believes River Region will now meet with its board of directors and opt to reconvey the building to HHS. “The people in the (Springfield) neighborhood think this is the way to go.”
Thoburn said the biggest issue now is what will happen to the building over the next year. Since GSA conveyed the building to River Region, Thoburn said it would take a legislative conveyance in order for the City to gain control of the building. Owning the building, however, isn’t a high priority for the City.
“There are all kinds of restrictions (on the building if it’s owned by the local government),” said Thoburn, adding the best solution is for the GSA to ultimately sell the three-building facility to a private developer for the purpose of housing.
“That would be the ideal solution,” said Thoburn. “The City doesn’t want the building and we haven’t found a use that makes sense financially. It is going to take several million dollars to make it functional. There are others in line for the building, but we have learned that it is in bad shape.”
In the meantime, the City is working with River Region to help fund an expansion of its existing facility on Park Street. Thoburn said the City and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown have both committed $500,000 to the project and the rest will be funded through various loans and grants.
“I think we have a very good solution. They have an existing site they can expand on and it’s a great fix for them. River Region is helping us now after we butted heads a little bit,” said Thoburn. “They are a community asset and we didn’t want to butt heads with them. They have been good about this.”