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The location of City Hall is an issue that has sparked passionate debate between and among our City leaders and community--debate that has played out in regional publications and social media, as well as in countless official city meetings. While no one yet knows how City Council will vote this Thursday on the disposition of City Hall, we two members of Council believe that it is likely irresponsible to vote without a long-term plan for a future City Hall.
Mayor Slaughter's editorial in Thursday's edition of the Sun-Gazette outlined his belief that the most cost-effective solution for housing city government is in its current location of Trade and Transit I, II, and the former Transportation Museum, and that any plans for city government's long-term home cannot be developed due to an ongoing investigation by state and federal authorities. While Mayor Slaughter offers truthful context leading up to the current issues with City Hall, his commentary only tells a part of the story of this issue and more importantly communicates a faulty and irresponsible rationale for not formulating any long-term plans.
Mayor Slaughter makes the argument that staying in our current location is the most cost-effective solution to our lack-of-city-hall issue. First, it is not practically more cost effective compared to renting another location. City Council amended last year's budget to reflect moving all current operations in Trade and Transit 1 and 2 over to Third Street Plaza, under which arrangement the city would be paying less in rent than in our current tenancy -- but the administration opted not to make the move to the cheaper location.
Secondly, while we share the mayor's concerns for the cost of City Hall, and our overall financial wellbeing, cost is not the only metric that needs to be calculated when we discuss the arrangement of city government -- the need for a long-term hub for city operations is also incredibly important. For example, there continues to be confusion on the proper address to send correspondence and other documentation to city government. Council's receipt of correspondence from other government entities and the public has frequently been delayed due to the city's current multiple addresses; our tax office has not received tax payments because constituents mail them to the wrong address; and we continuously get questions on locations of and how to reach various city departments. All of this hinders the timely performance of city government duties and affects general morale of our community and our officials and employees.
Mayor Slaughter also brings up very valid concerns and reasons to pause on returning to city hall, from lack of prior maintenance to the accessibility issues identified by a prior consultant -- problems acknowledged by members of City Council. But he provides less reasoning for why his administration is choosing not to search at all for a permanent home for city government.
Certainly there are likely to be substantial costs associated with creating any long-term home for city government (aka a City Hall), but while some of them are known, others are not, and we have no true cost estimates on either rehabilitating our existing City Hall or any alternative option to house city government if we sell City Hall. Any alternative that involves building or renovating a facility will come with more or less equally substantial costs -- but this is simply part of the cost of operating a city government that is accessible and responsive to its citizens. City Council has requested greater clarity on costs associated with our various building options multiple times, out of a desire to see the city examine our options and take the most fiscally prudent approach on this issue, yet we've received no clear answers, nor any commitment to figuring them out.
We two members of City Council don't agree with the mayor's comments that our current location is the most cost effective location for city government nor with his assertion that, in general, City Council has been and continues to be fully informed of all the facts relating to this issue.
But we also take issue with the mayor's rationale for lack of planning for a long-term solution to the City Hall conundrum. Mayor Slaughter is justified in his expressed concerns surrounding the ongoing investigations and their impact on the city -- concerns we share. But that cannot be a reason to press pause on resolving the many pressing issues facing the city of Williamsport, including City Hall's long-term location.
By the rationale outlined by Mayor Slaughter, city government shouldn't be doing anything at all without completed audits and understanding our true financial position. Yet, since the investigations commenced, the city has added additional officers in the police department, has purchased and implemented software to bring city government up to date and drive efficiency, has increased staffing in the Finance Office, has increased funding to capital projects to get caught up on many core infrastructure issues facing the city, and many other important financial milestones -- all of them funded by general fund revenue, which is a core funding stream at question in the mayor's commentary.
If we're uncertain of our financial position as a city, why are we doing any of it? Councilwoman Miele has pointed out publicly in the past that "you don't stop paying your bills if the IRS is auditing your household or your business" and the city can't stop providing services in our current straits either. Our constituents, need these core services to efficiently function as a community -- our constituents need their municipal government to govern effectively, they need it to efficiently protect the public welfare, and they need to be able to easily contact that government with questions and concerns. Financial uncertainty must be taken into account, but it cannot hinder our duly elected mayor in solving the pressing issues facing us -- the levee recertification, Grafius Run, growing budget deficits, declining population, and yes, the long-term location of City Hall. We call on Mayor Slaughter to make a better plan for the city of Williamsport's future -- and that plan starts with finding our city a permanent address.
Adam Yoder is the president of Williamsport City Council and former chair of the City Hall Ad Hoc Committee. Liz Miele is the chair of the Capital Budget and Finance Committee and former council vice president