HUMBOLDT — A divided Humboldt City Council voted Monday to continue pursuing a $350,000 grant that would fund a new community building and senior citizens center.
The vote, a 3-3 deadlock, forced a tie-breaking vote by Mayor Bob Sharp.
Opposition came from council members who favored seeing the senior citizens center remain in or near the downtown business district.
Humboldt agreed to team with Allen County last month in the grant pursuit, with the county providing $50,000 in cash or in-kind contributions as part of the application.
The state grant would require the city to spend a total of about $10,000 for the building, including $5,000 for land.
Opposition by a handful of residents to place the center near a proposed senior housing complex along the north edge of Humboldt led councilmen last month to try to find an alternative location for the building.
The new location — at the intersection of Sixth and Franklin streets, a block farther to the north than originally planned — did not satisfy council members Sean McReynolds and Wayne Carson.
Both said the city should ask the county to consider finding vacant land or an empty building nearer the city square.
However, council members Vada Aikins, Dan Julich, Sam Murrow and Sharp all cited reasons to support the grant: the city would be getting a new building for a $10,000 investment; the county’s involvement in the application would enhance Humboldt’s chances in winning the grant; the county, in turn, would be rid of its existing Humboldt Senior Center, which is falling apart and not worth fixing; the grant application process requires only a 15-percent local match this time, while the local contribution would increase to 50 percent later this year; and Humboldt’s best hope for growth is if the city expands to the north.
“I think we’ll be kicking ourselves 20 years from now if we don’t try for this,” Julich said.
Sharp, meanwhile, noted that he had received phone calls from residents opposed to moving the community center. None of those folks, however, used the center for Humboldt’s congregate meals site.
Of those who do use the existing senior center, none have voiced opposition to moving to the north edge of town, Sharp said.
City Administrator Larry Tucker noted the new site would fix one of the primary concerns voiced by a pair of residents in June, that having a community building next door to the proposed housing complex would create traffic congestion. The housing complex would be about a block to the south of the community building, along what would be known as Oak Street, Tucker said.
Bill Caton of Excel Development Group, Auburn, is seeking state tax-credit funding to build at least 12 senior apartments near Arrowood Lane residential care facility.
Coming to a resolution this month was imperative, council members noted. The grant application is due Aug. 1. The city should learn soon after that if the application is successful.
Council members could have dropped the application before then without any repercussions from the state. However, rejecting the grant after it is rewarded would hamper the city’s ability to receive other grants for the next few years, Tucker said.
Council member Otis Crawford joined Carson and McReynolds in voting against continuing the application. Members Don Walburn and Jerry Griffith were absent.
THE CITY will take a look at its 2011 operating budget at a July 26 workshop. The 7 p.m. workshop will be preceded at 6 o’clock with a tour of the new city hall building at the intersection of Bridge and Eighth streets. Renovations to the building are ongoing, with the hopes that city offices can move to the new building this fall.
The city must have its 2011 spending plan in place by August. Tucker noted that the council also must decide by August whether to put a sales tax proposal in front of local voters for street repairs.
Such a vote would take place in November, Tucker said.
In a related matter, council members voted 5-1, Carson opposed, for change orders totaling $2,720 to the new city hall. The change orders include adding a wall to the mechanical room for the building’s new elevator, adding another door along a corridor adjoining a meeting room, removing a partial wall in what will be a Police Department area and repairing the ceiling where water had leaked during a recent torrential downpour.
COUNCIL members approved a new policy, 5-1, Carson opposed, that prohibits smoking for everyone — employees included — in all city buildings, park shelters, vehicles and other facilities. Public smoking already had been prohibited.
The newer and tighter restrictions conform with state law, Tucker said.
The city also received its 2009 financial audit report from the accounting firm of Jarred, Gilmore and Phillips, PA of Chanute. The audit found no violations of significance.
