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Guest Column

Government complex near Lecanto a better solution

By MORRIS HARVEY
Published November 22, 2006

Citrus County government is continuing to deal with long-term space needs in the shadow of an Inverness Council threat to sue the county.

Back in 2001 then-County Administrator Richard Wesch, supported by Commissioners Jim Fowler, Josh Wooten and subsequently by Commissioner Roger Bachelor, committed the county to an inadequate and costly short-term solution to both judicial and county government space needs. A structure was built, touted to accommodate the tax collector and property appraiser for more than 10 years, on the Stovall property in downtown Inverness, which is flood prone and is stuck in litigation over construction oversights.

The County Commission is conducting business and holding meetings in the judicial building, occupying expensive space now needed by the court system.

Now, in 2006, we are told that the supervisor of elections needs space urgently in order to manage the new requirements of our 2008 elections. The tax collector and property appraiser have also run out of space in five years not 10 or more. The Board of County Commissioners must move to accommodate court expansion, which is only a stopgap measure to allow time for further analysis of their long- term space needs.

Parking limitations have been mentioned including a multilevel parking structure, but no plans developed or a specific location determined. Again, the plan calls for making this happen in the crowded, flood-prone area of central Inverness, along with narrow streets and aging utilities.

We are told that a domino concept should be used, providing a new structure of 24,000 square feet for the supervisor of elections and another 24,000-square-foot building for the tax collector. The property appraiser would occupy the tax collector's current space and the clerk of courts would inherit the supervisor of elections' space.

In addition, the County Commission would move offices and meeting activities to the new Inverness City Hall, with second priority to the city of Inverness government activities. The court system could then utilize the space now used by county government, until updated expansion plans could be developed for the judicial complex.

The announced plan does not contain any rationale for justification of the increased square- foot allowance for any of the constitutional officers. In fact, it provides the additional space immediately and implies that they will be able to expand or contract operations within this envelope over the next 15 to 20 years, without supporting data.

Currently, there is no consideration of a centralized one-stop county government complex (a government campus), which would probably be cheaper, offer more land space for future growth, and offer better access to all the citizens of Citrus County. With adequate land area available in Lecanto, buildings could be clustered and designed for expansion by adding floors or wings, as well as additional new buildings, as the need develops. Planning should be for 25 to 50 years and beyond, rather than the proposed 15 to 20 years.

We contend that the only sensible part of the announced plan is for the clerk of courts to inherit the supervisor of elections' space. All other county government functions should be clustered in a centrally located county government complex in the Lecanto area. Functions such as employee snack and rest areas, conference rooms and storage areas could be designed for shared usage among the various government functions.

With this central proximity to citizens of the west and north areas, we could consider the elimination of a west-side annex.

The city of Inverness should concentrate on being the commercial center for the southeast portion of the county; prepare to accommodate the expansion of the judicial, the hospital, and the school system. Do Inverness citizens realize how much real estate tax is being lost through government ownership of property?

A Citrus County Government Complex (a government campus), located on a large tract of land and centrally located in the Lecanto area would be less costly, provide greater expansion options and design flexibility, and be more convenient for more citizens than any expansion in Inverness. If adequate land could be procured near the existing Lecanto government building, it would improve efficiencies during commission meetings, which now require top management people to commute to Inverness.

We respectfully request that a centrally located Citrus County Government Complex be given equal consideration to any plan within the City of Inverness.

Morris Harvey is chairman of the Fiscal Watch Committee of the Citrus County Council.

Editor's note: The following is a letter to County Commission Chairman Gary Bartell from the Fiscal Watch Committee of the Citrus County Council. It is being reprinted at the author's request.

[Last modified November 22, 2006, 06:25:35]