C.F. Council decides against building buy

What should the city do with the projected millions of dollars that could come in from the eventual sale of the Cedar Creek Reservoir property north of Columbia Falls?

The Columbia Falls City Council isnt counting its eggs before theyre hatched.

Council members were asked to decide Monday night whether to buy a building adjacent to City Hall.

They opted not to tie up future proceeds with a land-purchase contract before the money is in hand, even with a serious buyer in line for the first 130-acre parcel at Cedar Creek.

As Mayor Susan Nicosia pointed out, there are a lot of other priorities that need funding first.

I am totally in favor of this, council member Jolie Fish said at the opening of the discussion. I think it would be a good thing for the city.

Obviously I have a different view, Nicosia said in prefacing her response.

In the long run, Fishs motion to buy Dr. Dale Baxs dental office, just across the alley east of City Hall, died for lack of a second.

Discussions began nearly three years ago, City Manager Bill Shaw told the council, when Bax approached him. The dentist was looking to vacate his building and saw its location as a good one for the city.

Shaw mulled it over.

As the city approaches a population of 5,000, Shaw said, the city may need to expand the fire hall next door which already crowds its lot lines.

Likewise, more readers in town could mean a call for more library space for books, people and their cars at City Hall. Police and city administrative offices could grow. Already, all parking spaces are filled when city court is in session.

Baxs property could solve that if paved for a parking lot, Shaw explained. Or, Bax recently told Shaw, he has a potential tenant in mind if the city wants to rent out the office space.

Bax said hed give the city the first opportunity to buy the building and two lots. It appraises between $226,000 and $250,000, Bax told Shaw, and he would offer it to the city for the lower amount.

But theres another interested party waiting in the wings, Shaw said. So he and Bax drew up a proposed agreement, calling for $500 refundable earnest money now, $95,500 on closing Feb. 15, and the remaining $126,000 on June 30, 2006 with everything contingent on the Cedar Creek sale.

Shaw said Bax asked on Monday to have the full balance payable at closing, if the city has the money in its Cedar Creek trust fund by then.

Its a good offer, Shaw told the council, especially to provide expansion room for the fire hall.

Nicosia disagreed.

Despite record growth last year, she said, the value of a property-tax mill in Columbia Falls dropped. Funding this purchase would take 56 mills.

Thats a big chunk, she said, especially on the heels of a 17-mill levy increase last year.

And, as the council prioritized a $3 million list of city needs when it decided last spring to set up the trust fund, this building wasnt even on the radar screen, she added.

Offsetting sewer costs was a top priority on that list, particularly with an upgrade planned for 2006-07 and the highest sewer rates in the valley already, Nicosia said. Money diverted from that goal, she said, could easily mean the difference between a five percent rate increase and a 10 percent rate increase.

Besides, she added, roads, paths and other infrastructure priorities deserve to be funded first.

She argued against taking Baxs property off the tax rolls by transferring it to city ownership. Instead, she urged, leave it on the tax rolls and somebody could buy it in the future.

If the building were usable to us in its current form, Nicosia said, I would look at it differently.

I dont see it being usable in the next few years, Shaw replied.

Fish told the council that she does not want the purchase to take priority over items higher on the list, but it should be included in discussions.

New council member Julie Plevel,

a real estate broker, raised questions while making it clear she has not taken a close look at the building or property.

My first impression is this is high, that he wouldnt get $226,000 if he put it on the open market, Plevel said.

Its not primary or even secondary frontage, she explained, and there are a lot of empty buildings here. She wondered, too, whether the city would be able to secure a tenant, despite Baxs optimism.

I wouldnt count on that, she said. I would not vote tonight for it, until I got a look at it. It might have something I dont know about.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com