Florence Puts Lipstick on a Pig

 

It's time for another visit from the Florence Detective:

It seemed like there were two takeaways from the Florence city council meeting held on 01/25/2024. Jimmy Oliver wants to make sure that the city’s lawnmowers are protected. And Kaytrina Simmons tries her hardest to take care of her district. Unfortunately for Kaytrina and the good folks of District 1, it seems like her best is just not good enough. At this meeting, she had another losing battle in front of her to get the entire Handy recreation center remodeled. But, in her quiet reserved way, she attempted to get the other council people on board. She failed. It seems like to the rest of this council, a place to store lawn equipment is more important than a place to provide recreation for children.

$1,721,000.00 was the amount listed on consent agenda item (i) which was a contract with Butler construction company for the construction of a maintenance building at Rivers Heritage Phase III. $1,100,785.00 was the amount listed also on the consent agenda as item (j) for another contract with Butler construction company to provide labor, equipment, materials, and incidentals necessary for the renovation of W.C. Handy recreation center. Ms. Simmons did win a small victory in getting both these items removed from the consent agenda where all items are placed which can be passed with one vote from the council (eg: reimburse travel expenses, etc.) and placed on the regular agenda where they are voted on separately and can be discussed.

Councilwoman Simmons attempted to “discuss” before the vote on these items. She pointed out that the Florence city council was attempting to spend more on a storage place for lawn equipment and a few chemicals for the splash pad than for a multi-purpose building to benefit the citizens of District 1. Earlier at the work session, a new player in what has become “the Handy melodrama” was introduced. He is the newly hired recreation director. The only name I got, and I apologize, was “Jason”. BUT, given the remarks he made to the full council it may be the case that he is not around long enough to get any plaques anyway! He came to the podium and let the council know that they should do more for the recreation center. While the paint and flooring would look nice, he proposed gutting the area where the lockers currently are located and making that a video entertainment area. It could also be used as a learning center for after school programs and he even had a plan to create a social room that citizens could rent for gatherings. You could see the scowl in every member's face but Kaytrina Simmons. She was looking more pleased with his every word. I am sure she also knew they were falling on deaf ears other than hers and those in attendance, both in person and online. BUT, to this reporter, this young man was the star of the meeting.

Jimmy Oliver shot back that the cost of the maintenance building is for new construction and that the cost at the Handy center was only for a remodel. He was correct in this assessment but what he did not acknowledge and the point that Ms. Simmons and “Jason” were making was if you are going to remodel the building, why not remodel the entire building? Mr. Oliver seemed stuck on one being new construction and the other being a remodel. One thing this reporter did was to go online to find the average construction cost for “warehouse” type buildings for 2023. The average cost for basic shell buildings can run anywhere from $90 to $137 per sq. Ft. This “new” maintenance building proposed size is listed at 5600 sq ft. Given the cost of the building, this comes in at an average cost of $307.32 per sq ft for construction. When it came time for “remarks from the public” one commenter showed his concern at the $1.7 million price and asked if the building was to be “made of gold”. Gold today is selling for $2.031.00 an ounce.

Of course, when the votes were taken, all but Ms. Simmons voted yes. The lawnmowers will have a shiny new home. The citizens of District 1 will have some paint, some new flooring and a few kitchen appliances. And “lipstick on the pig” of a building built in 1955. It seems like this council once again missed a golden opportunity to do the right thing.






You may contact the blogger at: flodetective@gmail.com