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John Mattson
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Posted: Wed Mar 26th, 2008 01:08 am |
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I have been thinking about this all day and hoping the Journal article needs a little clearing up because these numbers don't make sense to me, "The $7 million loan comes in addition to $4 million the county received from insurance coverage as a result of the fire. Those funds would join an anticipated $9 million loan from state agencies", said Morgan County Commissioner Tommy Swaim. Those funds will come with an initially low interest rate which is expected to balloon in five years. At that time, money from the USDA loan will be used to repay the remainder of the debt."
So, what needs more clarification is the fact that 7 + 9 + 4 = 20 and 7 + 9 = 16 so what do we need so many loans and so much money for a $12 Million courthouse. Are we just begging to pay interest for no reason at all?
If we are already getting $9 Million and already have $4 Million, whey do we need another $7 Million loan? Or vice versa, $7 Million plus our $4 million is $11 Million and that should get us a pretty good courthouse.
Maybe somone can clear this up for me??????
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Jeanne Mozier
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| Joined: | Wed Mar 12th, 2008 |
| Location: | West Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: Tue Mar 25th, 2008 01:45 pm |
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Re: the current lot used for trailers -- it is owned by Mrs. Stotler of Eddie's Tires and the county has been trying to buy it for years. She has been very generous to allow it to be used for the temporary court buildings and previous to that, for parking. Should she be willing to sell, it is the universal opinion of all who consider the problem's , the ideal location for courthouse parking.
As for the lot behind BB&T -- it is currently owned by the Catholic Church except for a narrow strip along Mercer St owned by Mary Lou Trump. That lot was in much better shape before it was used as a staging area for construction of the new church and I assume will be restored to its previous condition now that construction is complete.
To me, the town and general area would benefit much more from development of useful commercial or residential structures on that empty area rather than one more parking lot.
The other night at the town council meeting, the town voted on a budget reduced because their parking meter and parking ticket revenue had dropped in the past year. The reason -- the courthouse parking lot. People should analyze more carefully before making dramatic statements about the dire parking problem. There is a need for thoughful, planned parking which is why the Chamber and others have volunteered to match state grant funds should they be given for a parking study. But, as the town and anyone who looks around on any given day realizes, the real crisis the courthouse lot solved is not parking but FREE parking. If there were meters in that lot -- and I am NOT proposing that -- or any fee comparable to those of on street parking meters or the parking permits that were charged when the Catholic Church lot was being used for parking, cars would melt away.
If there are ever to be solutions found to any problem it is essential that those searching for those solutions be both informed and objective.
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John Mattson
Member
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Posted: Tue Mar 25th, 2008 11:39 am |
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STOP NOW !!!
That is the only action the Morgan County Commission should take in the "progress" towards building a new courthouse.
This morning's Journal article about the additional $7 Million loan that will carry the County until the USDA $9 Million loan kicks in, which will be used to pay off the original loan, all of which will be added to the $4 Million on hand to build the Morgan County Tag Mahal is outrageous.
If Capito and Stotler (and the other County Commissioners) claim this as a "Success" then they all need to be removed from office because this is totally irresponsible. It is a great example of what any finacial expert will tell you not to do.....max out one credit card to pay off another maxed-out credit card - that is exactly what Capito and our Commissioners are doing.
I have heard many folks talk about how we need to keep our graduating young people in Morgan County after they graduate - who in their right mind would do that knowing they would start their career off with an annual courthouse tax bill greater than what they would pay in student loans.
I know there have been petitions before, but I think it is time to get another petition going and take these signatures to the next County Commission meeting and let them state on record that they don't care what the people of Morgan County have to say.
If anyone would like to meet tonight or tomorrow night to draft the petitions and go door-to-door, please let me know and we can schedule a time/place. We can also plan how/where we will gather signatures over the weekend. The next Commission meeting is 4 April and I would need to call today to try and get on the schedule.
Thanks,
John
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local
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 2nd, 2008 |
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Posted: Thu Mar 20th, 2008 04:36 pm |
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| John, if Travel Berkeley Springs wants the downtown area to be attractive to tourists, why not get the owners to share the cost of putting gravel, or better yet pave the parking lot behind the BB&T bank. It really is an eye sore. That area plus the area where the county trailers are now located, should be an attractive place for parking.
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local
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Posted: Thu Mar 20th, 2008 03:34 pm |
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| Thanks, John, sounds like a great idea. It would solve the parking problem.
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John Mattson
Member
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Posted: Thu Mar 20th, 2008 01:28 pm |
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| I don't know her name, but the lady who owns the lot the trailers is on is actually renting it to the county for $1.00 - a very good kind-hearted citizen. It would be great if she would be willing to sell it or even turn it into a parking lot herself and generate her own income from turning it into a Private paid parking lot.
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local
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Posted: Wed Mar 19th, 2008 09:47 pm |
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Jeanne, I don't know who owns the area where the county trailers are now parked, but is there any reason why this cannot be considered for a prking lot when the new courthouse is built? I agree, it should be rebuilt in the same area.
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Kim Wills
Member
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Posted: Sat Mar 15th, 2008 12:53 am |
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Well, I certainly don't want our town to go down like Hancock. The fact they overspent on downtown beautification instead of reducing taxes for the busineeses and citizens may not have been a wise choice.
We need to keep this in mind when we plan a budget for our courthouse.
Kim
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Kim Wills
Member
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Posted: Sat Mar 15th, 2008 12:53 am |
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Well, I certainly don't want our town to go down like Hancock. The fact they overspent on downtown beautification instead of reducing taxes for the busineeses and citizens may not have been a wise choice.
We need to keep this in mind when we plan a budget for our courthouse.
Kim
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Jeanne Mozier
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| Joined: | Wed Mar 12th, 2008 |
| Location: | West Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 12 |
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Posted: Fri Mar 14th, 2008 01:52 pm |
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Well, we can be sure they are not stopping in Hancock since more than 2/3 of the downtown storefront are currently empty. Lots of parking though.
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John Mattson
Member
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Posted: Fri Mar 14th, 2008 01:40 pm |
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First, I don't understand the whole "Walk to the courthouse" point. There are less than 700 people who live in the town of Bath - so the other 16,000 county residents have to drive to the courthouse. I am sure those other 16,000 residents spend as much or more time trying to find a parking space as it did for them to dirve to the courthouse.
Five thousand for a parking study is ridiculous, unless the sole focus was to identify possibilities for new parking lots.
I am not bashing tourism, I understand the revenue created from it, but Morgan County is outgrowing what the tourist dollars can support. We have to be open minded and work to bring other reveune generating businesses or reasons for people to come to Morgan County - not just the half mile stretch of the Town of Bath.
I also asked everyone in my office if they had ever gone on vacation anywhere to look at a courthouse. Of course, the response was no. If the courthouse was also a Museum and had fine art, statues, etc. and it was opened evenings and weekends and we charged a fee, then possibly it would be a good idea to keep it in the center of town so the tourists could enjoy it.
How much revenue are we losing cause through-traffickers can't find a parking space and simply say screw it - I will stop and get what I need when I get to Winchester or Hancock?
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Kim Wills
Member
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Posted: Fri Mar 14th, 2008 04:29 am |
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First, let me start by saying I do walk. I do however understand that many people expect and need the courthouse to be more accessible to close parking. When you are about to pay the amount of taxes and fees we do, you shouldn't have to be winded by the time you hand over two months of wages. Many in our community are elderly, why shouldn't they get the ease of use for their money. They certainly don't have children in the schools anymore.
Let's face it the two parking spaces that were allotted for paying taxes were always occupied. Most people circled the loop around the courthouse waiting for an opening two or three times.
I don't see why we need to spend $5000 to see that the "courthouse" parking lot is full everyday at lunchtime. Many workers in town are more encouraged to go to the local restaurants downtown. They are glad to walk the two or three blocks to their destination. They are not lazy, they were just discouraged from the past when parking was a much harder find.
As for asking the governor for help, the county and its buildings are the responsibility of the county commissioners. It is very unrealistic to think he can just pass out $13 million to each county in West Virginia for Courthouse Costs. The fact that most counties gave up their courthouse allotment for our county to have is a great gift. Money flowing from the State for county buildings is hard to get. It is not Governor Manchin's fault that our commissioners saved money by not hooking up to the new alarm system in the updated section.
I do not beleive that security costs is the reason for the price. Tommy Swaim and Glen Stotler claimed at several meeting that it was because the county had to follow the new guidelines for courthouse construction which designated everything from room size to having separate bathrooms for the jury. It was never stated in any meeting I was at that security was driving up our costs.
It was suggested to have a 20 foot by 20 foot cupola with a statue of Daniel Morgan and a waterfall feature, however! The costs is based on moving the family courthouse into the courthouse and constructing for them on top of what we need to replace from the courthouse fire. I think this sort of extravagances is what is making the price so high and a good old lack of common sense.
The Commissioners go on though planninng to build a courthouse with a debt service of over $385, 000. The county only collected $234,00 to date for this years taxes. I am not a public accountant but that is a room or two less than what they are planning to spend.
Bottom line, we have not the money for this plan. You can blame anyone you want for not handing us money from higher up. We still have to live within our means and not burden our children and our grandchildren with this. Forty years from now we will still be paying off this loan. How many of you want to bear that burden?
Kim
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Jeanne Mozier
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| Joined: | Wed Mar 12th, 2008 |
| Location: | West Virginia USA |
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Posted: Thu Mar 13th, 2008 11:11 pm |
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I only park behind the Star at night so that customers can park on the street. During the day when I am in town, I park in a variety of places, generally back streets. If I have things to load and unload, I do that and move my car.
I'm not certain which large landowners there are in town that would benefit from the Courthouse remaining in the center of town. In fact, the large landowners are the ones who want it moved out of town, preferably on land they own, as nearly as I can tell. If there are business people who have put their lives on the line to keep their businesses operating in town that want town to survive so they don't lose everything, well, right on. Lose the individual business owners and we end up looking like the miracle mile in Martinsburg -- or the strip mall south of town where out of town owners take the money and run and offer nothing in the way of community support or leadership etc. etc.
There is a parking problem in town which is why the Chamber of Commerce put up nearly $5000 to help fund a parking study.
As far as the look -- I have to admit, I never saw the former courthouse as a gorgeous building, certainly not in comparison to several spectacular ones elsewhere in the state.
People are whining about the cost already, forgetting that at least 2/3 of it is due to the current obsession with security that is being forced upon us, not because of a desire to build a Taj Mahal. And that cost would occur wherever the Courthouse was located, new building or old. Finally, I would always take a photo of a building rather than a parking lot.
I would urge that all the people concerned about money bombard the Governor and ask why rebuilding a Courthouse is not considered worthy of either economic development or disaster funds -- and why a baseball stadium in Charleston or a redecoration of the Governor's Mansion is.
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ofReason
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Posted: Thu Mar 13th, 2008 04:06 pm |
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Jeanne Mozier wrote:
True, the park is the heart of town but the square has been the park and the Courthouse for more than 150 years. It is the total package. It's a toss up what was the most photographed or recognizable scene of Berkeley Springs -- the park, which is open space, or the Courthouse which represented human endeavor.
Of course, currently no one manages the walk either to the Post Office or to the shops at the north end of town. My guess is that people would do what they do now -- get in their cars and drive the three blocks from place to place and still whine about parking.
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Jeanne,
A few questions for you- first, while I recognize the fact that you are a "figure" in town, and well deserving of such an unofficial title, where do you park? If I am not misinformed, you park immediately behind your contribution to the towns historic aspect, The Star Theater, on private property. There are other people that work in town that are not so lucky as you, that have to park on public streets, and while it was admittedly a blow to the community when the courthouse burned down, it was also a boon to the horrendous parking situation, providing upwards of 50 parking spaces for the people that need it most.
Second, if you didn't live in this town, and had no interest whatsoever in the government or judiciary actions of this town, would you photograph a modern building that has absolutely no appeal to the historic aesthetic of the town? The proposed images that I have seen of it make it out to look like something in Fairfax VIRGINIA, not Lord Fairfax's property here in Berkeley Springs. Clean, modern, new brick building, with clean, modern new glass windows and nice and shiny and... expensive. Roughly the equivalent of plopping down a Ryan split level in the middle of Venice, Italy. Dare I say it? An EYESORE, perhaps?
In short, the new courthouse, which I'm sure will be built DESPITE the protests of the majority, will be a transition to a newer, more modern Berkeley Springs. Which, although it takes away from the historic aspects of this town, will pad the pockets of the people that matter most - The large landowners in town. Who, by the way, also run the town.
There will be no replacement for the Old Courthouse, just a shell of brick and glass dominating the square of Berkeley Springs, casting its shadow of unapproved taxes, disgruntled citizens, and garish ugliness not just over the square, but over the entire county.
 SMILE!
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Jeanne Mozier
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| Joined: | Wed Mar 12th, 2008 |
| Location: | West Virginia USA |
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Posted: Thu Mar 13th, 2008 11:58 am |
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I must be missing the point. Why is constructing an entirely new building on a lot three blocks from the center of town a better, cheaper idea than building at its current location?
Plus, the CSX lot has been in negotiation for a couple years now as a site for senior housing/center/shopping which would keep people living downtown as well as give an accessible location for seniors. The notion behind this was to help develop commercial activity downtown. There is parking in that area which could be used for downtown parking generally if everyone did not think they had to park less than three feet from where they were going. I remember taking a friend from Berkeley Springs into DC with me one day and she was stunned and amazed that people believed it was a miracle if they had to walk less than a couple blocks from their car to their desitination.
True, the park is the heart of town but the square has been the park and the Courthouse for more than 150 years. It is the total package. It's a toss up what was the most photographed or recognizable scene of Berkeley Springs -- the park, which is open space, or the Courthouse which represented human endeavor.
Of course, currently no one manages the walk either to the Post Office or to the shops at the north end of town. My guess is that people would do what they do now -- get in their cars and drive the three blocks from place to place and still whine about parking.
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