With an agreement in place with the city of Kokomo for parking spaces in a proposed downtown garage, the Howard County Commissioners have terminated a purchase agreement to acquire property at the corner of Main and Superior streets.
The commissioners voted Thursday to terminate the agreement to purchase the 1.7 acre property which contained 120 parking spaces and an 18,000 square foot building.
The commissioners were considering paying $850,000 over the next three years. With the termination of the agreement, the only cost to county taxpayers was $7,000 for two appraisals of the property.
The average of the two appraisals was $951,000.
Commissioner Paul Wyman said when the county made the offer to purchase in October it was an excellent decision given the options.
He said the city offered the county 80 parking spaces in the proposed parking garage for 30 years in exchange for a $500,000 contribution to the planned $15 million YMCA project to build a new facility on the former Button Motors property.
Wyman said the county showed flexibility by looking at the total cost and determined what is best for taxpayers.
“The initial action stemmed mainly on the parking situation,” Tyler Moore, president of the Board of Commissioners, said. “The building was icing on the cake and allowed us to address spacing needs.”
Moore said there were other opportunities for the use of the building at the Main Street location.
Richard Miller, president of the Howard County Council said economically the decision not to purchase the property was the least costly option.
“Other considerations may not have been completed,” he said. “That facility would have been well received.”
Miller said the cost to the county for the 80 parking spaces in the parking garage for 30 years was reduced from an initial amount of $1.7 million for one floor to $500,000.
“That money goes to a worthy project,” he said.
A day after the Kokomo Board of Public Works & Safety approved the parking agreement with the county, the commissioners endorsed the pact.
It provides the county with assigned spots for 80 employees in the new parking garage for 30 years and when construct starts on the garage the parking places will be located on the former Button Motors property at no cost to the county.
The free parking spaces for county employees is contingent on the $500,000 donation to the YMCA project over the next five years.
Wyman said terms of the agreement specify if the county doesn’t contribute the $500,000 the agreement becomes null and void.
“I’m confident we will have parking spaces for 30 years,” he said.
Wyman called the decision a win for the city, county and taxpayers.
Local News
County won’t buy building
Commissioners approve parking agreement.
- Local News
-
-
Bullying reporting now required
Oliver Jackson — known in the music world as DjBigO317 — remembers being bullied by the kids on his high school football team for being small.
He told his coaches about it, but they brushed it off and told him to do the same.
Now, his 6-year-old daughter is battling issues with bullies at her school in Indianapolis, and he won’t let it go.
He is on a crusade to end bullying, and he’s taking the message beyond his daughter’s school. -
The bully bashers speak out
Nineteen-year-old Trenton Lewis wants to change the message hip-hop music is sending to kids across the country.
The Kokomo High School graduate envisions songs that inspire change and songs that promote safer schools instead of ones that glorify drugs and violence. He wants to push the negativity out of music. - Bullying statistics - May 19, 2013
-
State to spend $2 million to clean up voter rolls
Indiana’s bloated voter registration rolls, which officials say make elections more susceptible to fraud, will soon come under more scrutiny by the state.
- Public Eye - May 19, 2013
-
Fallen comrades remembered
In the 148-year history of the Kokomo Police Department, two officers have died in the line of duty. Members of the department took part in a ceremony Friday to honor not only those two, but all fallen police officers.
-
Local deputies play key role in arrest
A mother and her infant son are now safe, thanks in part to the determination of deputies with the Howard County Sheriff’s Department. The officers worked from the time Kristy Redenbaugh was reported missing in September 2012 until the man police allege was her captor was arrested Thursday.
-
Charter school to open in August
Goodwill Education Initiatives will unveil the area’s first charter school for high school dropouts Aug. 15 in downtown Kokomo.
-
Districts call special board meetings
Northwestern School Corp. will likely reduce the hours of about a dozen instructional assistants to avoid having to provide them with insurance.
-
Windy debates
At least two central Indiana counties have established setbacks that are essentially prohibitive of wind farm developments. Counties between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne have debated whether to allow wind farms and how to regulate them. In Howard County, wind farm opponents are trying to reopen the discussion to increase setback requirements established in the county’s code.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Bullying reporting now required
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
