Purchase Option Approved by Council
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WHEELING -- Amid internal and external scrutiny, a split city council on Tuesday voted to move forward by entering into an option to purchase land for the proposed public safety building.
Council voted 5-2 on the option, with councilwomen Melinda Koslik and Wendy Scatterday voting against the plan. Mayor Glenn Elliott was joined by council members Ty Thorngate, Dave Palmer, Chad Thalman and Ken Imer in voting for the option.
Elliott reiterated that all the city did was agree to an option to purchase the property, and that no purchase agreement is on the table.
Elliott also said he was frustrated with public perception that the purchase was a done deal, and he pushed back at requests to share appraisal information ahead of any purchase being finalized -- including such an open records request from The Intelligencer, which the city on Monday denied.
"All we're doing tonight is an option, and I'm trying to temper this decision with my frustration with … coverage suggesting that this is a done deal, that this vote tonight is a vote to spend $150,000 …," he said. "This is just an option that has been used before. … It's absolutely ludicrous to share an appraisal when you're still in negotiations with a property owner. It's not done in the private sector, it's not done anywhere, and the notion that we're hiding something is one that I take offense to."
The ordinance gives the city the option to pay 19th Street property owner Frank Calabrese and his Americo Inc. company $150,000 for a blighted building valued for tax purposes at about $40,000, and also to set aside another $195,000 for environmental remediation at the site.
The city would seek a federal brownsfield remediation grant to clean up the site and, if granted, would give the $195,000 that is to be placed in escrow for remediation to Calabrese.
The plan has been the target of scrutiny from the public, including mayoral candidate Jerry Jacobs who spoke at this and previous council meeting about the city's perceived lack of transparency in the dealings.
"Who conducted the appraisals? Who conducted the environmental assessment? The report of the findings of the assessment? The estimated cost for remediation, which could be hundreds of thousands of dollars of contaminated soil? I wonder why the city administration is in such a rush to move forward without having all the information necessary to make a wise and informed decision," Jacobs said. "Are there one or more parties interested in purchasing the property? If not, I wonder, why the rush?
"There are many points to be made, but … in conclusion, please consider the short- and long-term impact this 'yes' vote will have on the finances of the city. Don't let spite and personal feelings dictate how you vote. Think of the people who you've been elected to represent," Jacobs added.
Scatterday said that while she and her ward had, last year, enthusiastically supported the public safety building proposal, she could no longer stand by the purchase at its proposed location.
"I really don't want anyone to question my commitment to our police and fire departments, but I do not happen to agree that the 19th Street location is the appropriate way to fulfill the need," Scatterday, who represents Wheeling's Fourth Ward, said. "I was willing to wait it out and see if any information has come out and see if it would get any better, and frankly, it hasn't improved."
Palmer said the approval of the option would give the city site control, which would allow the city to be more secure in negotiations. Palmer is a former firefighter of more than 25 years with the city.
"We'll be able to answer a lot of the questions that have been asked once we have site control," Palmer said. "We're to the point where, until we have site control, we cannot go further. Let's find out if there are problems, if we can identify what the cost will be on that problem, and at the end of 90 days, we can always walk away. This is just giving us an option -- that's all this is doing.
"Since July, when the safety committee met, since that day, we've heard it stated that we bought this property, and we have not. We are continuing through the process. We're five months through the process. This gives us three more. I don't think we're rushing. I think we're being deliberate, and I would encourage council to move forward."
At Palmer's prompting, City Manager Robert Herron identified other properties in Wheeling that had been purchased after a similar option agreement, including the J.B. Chambers sports field in East Wheeling.
"There were, I believe, 26 different properties in that project, all of which were secured through an option agreement," Herron said. "The process there was, once we could get an agreement on one, we could go to the others until we had the entire site under site control."
The city also utilized eminent domain to make the sports field a reality.
Elliott defended the 19th Street spot as a good one for development, both aesthetically and as a service to the city's first responders. Both the fire and police departments would use the space as a new, larger headquarters to patrol and protect a city that has about 22,000 fewer residents than it did in 1970.
"I recognize that the site is not ideal, and I have some concerns myself," Elliott said. "But I look at it from both sides of the coin. It sits as a gateway to downtown Wheeling, and if left untouched, could sit there for another 15 years, saying 'Welcome to Wheeling,' and it doesn't look like a city on the rise when you see that building coming into downtown. I see a chance for significant savings, and a way to remove what I see as a blight. …
"I hear a lot of talk about how we need to praise our first responders, and then I see the same people absolutely hating every aspect of this project. There's different ways you can show respect. You can say great words and throw them a picnic once a year, or you can actually vote for something that's going to give them better facilities, and I think that's what I'm voting 'yes' on tonight."