It may cost up to Four-Hundred-Thousand-dollars to repair the issues with the mid-1990s era Dover City Hall. It could cost less, but it could also cost more.
That news came from newly appointed Dover City Administrator Charles Parks. For the last fourteen months Parks has been interim Dover City Administrator. Last night the Dover City Council voted unanimously to remove the interim tag from in front of his title. In recent years and decades, the person holding the job of Dover City Manager was the top one, two or three most powerful people in all of Stewart County, and often that person was the most powerful person in the city and county. Parks now holds that position.
During last night’s meeting Parks said the engineering report on the structural issues on Dover City Hall may be complete by next month’s city council meeting. Parks said during the meeting it will probably take grant funds to fix the problems with Dover City Hall. The possible amount of $400K was not mentioned during the meeting. After the meeting LBLUS.com asked Parks if he could ballpark how much it will cost to fix the structural issues. Parks said he was hesitant to make an estimate, but we asked him to make his best guess and he said possibly $400,000 — more or less. Many Dover oldtimers told the folks who were building the Dover City Hall where it is now they were making a costly blunder building it in the hole they were building it on. But it was built there anyway and now current taxpayer get to fund the repair project.
Also, it was not mentioned at last night’s meeting, but Dover sold its prime building lot next door to the flawed city hall for $65,000. One longtime Dover taxpayer said it should have sold for no less that $200,000. It sold to the one and only bidder, at the reserve minimum. The lot only received the one bid. Now when Dover needs to build a new city hall — which could very well come sooner than later — we will have to find another lot and is surely will not be as desirable as the one just sold at the reserve price. This information was not made public during last night’s meeting. LBLUS.com asked Parks about it after the meeting. That is when he said the lot had sold for the minimum of $65,000 to the one single bidder.
These stories will update
Story by David R. Ross — LBLUS.com
Does the Council not have a Question and Comment period for the residents (taxpayers) during the meeting, before it is adjourned? I am accustomed to that in Nashville, during which the residents speak for or against pending votes, in issues of concern, raise questions, etc.