Sell it as is, presumably in the next 90 days: that’s the consensus of the Flagler County Commission for the Sheriff’s Operations Center off of State Road 100 in Bunnell, the 27,000 square foot building evacuated a year and a half ago and swamped before and since in an environmental and political tangle that keeps blighting county government.
The commission wants to be rid of it. But until now it hadn’t contended with the issue. Monday morning County Administrator Jerry Cameron presented three options: demolish it, sell it as is, or repair it. Only one commissioner–Joe Mullins–favored the last option. The others were for attempting to sell it as is, and if that doesn’t work, then demolish it.
“If we’re not able to have the sheriff go back in the building, whether we fix it or not, it’s going to be very difficult for us an an elected group to tell other people that they can go–who work for the county–that they can go back into that building,” Commission Chairman Dave Sullivan said, ruling out the third option. “If we can sell it, sell it as is. If it goes on for, say, over a year, at that point we just revert to Option 1, demolish the building and go from there.”
Commissioner Greg Hansen concurred. “We’ve got to silence the Yahoos out here, one who’s sitting in the audience, who continually spread lies about that building,” Hansen said, “and we just have to get it off our plate somehow.”
Hansen, who doesn’t mind salty language, was referring to the commission’s recurring nemesis, Dennis McDonald–who twice ran for the commission–who carried on a verbal duel with County Attorney Al Hadeed during today’s meeting, making various charges about Hadeed, the county engineer and the commission’s handling of the sheriff’s building, though the allegations, Hadeed insisted repeatedly, had been discredited.
McDonald at one point went further, charging that “this building poisoned over 30 deputies and staff,” and tied the accusation to the county engineer. Hadeed didn’t let the statement stand: “For the statement to be made that they were poisoned, and as a result of the work of the county engineer, is an absolute libel,” he said, capping a brief summary of refutations of McDonald’s charges. (McDonald owes the county thousands of dollars in legal fees resulting from complaints he filed with the state ethics commission that the commission found not only to be frivolous, but knowingly and maliciously false.)
O’Brien, too, has no interest in rehabilitating the building, which he said could trigger possible litigation, opting more for the Sullivan approach, with a timeline.
“From personal experience of just having renovated an old house in Tennessee into a wedding venue,” Sheriff Rick Staly said, “I will tell you that you will find unexpected issues if you try to renovate or fix this building. In my example up there, the cost was double what the builder had anticipated. I think there’s many more issues with that building than your Terracon recent report says.”
“I think that building is shot,” the sheriff continued. “They took a pig and put lipstick on it, it’s still a pig. So my recommendation, maybe as Citizen Rick right now since I’m a taxpayer too, is Option 2, because I don;t think you can guarantee your ROI,” meaning a return on investment, “and you can put a half a million dollars in that building and you still can;t guarantee that it’s a safe building for humans to inhabit.”
The only exception was Commissioner Joe Mullins, who said he’d spend the money and repair the building, lifting its value.
Many questions remain regarding the operations center’s health, among them the results of a long-awaited examination by the Centers for Disease Control. “It doesn’t look like that’s going to be timely forthcoming,” Cameron said. “We’re not getting [a] response. It is not in the interest of the county to wait indefinitely for a resolution on this. It is a financial issue for us. It is also an issue of confidence in the community for us to address this and put it behind us.”
He was seeking guidance from commissioners as to how to proceed, based on the three options. There’s a $7.5 million debt on the building, including principal and interest, backed by the county’s half-cent sales tax.
Option 1, complete demolition, would cost the county $241,423. The land is currently valued at $544,750. The sell-as-is Option 2 would give the county a total value of $2.8 million, between the land and the building. “This is an educated guess on what that building’s value would actually bring on the market,” Cameron said. “I’m led to believe that it could be a little higher or it could be considerably less. But that’s what we have.” The estimates were all calculated in-house.
Repair costs for Option 3 would run $412,761 at current estimates. That would double the building’s value and result in a net asset of $4.6 million. But it’s also risky: ‘If we should discover something that was not anticipated during that recovery or rehabilitation process, it could be considerably more, so that is a risk factor that is built into option 3,” Cameron said. That option “has the highest risk component because we don’t know what we might discover.”
“I want to clarify on option three, if we looked at that option,” Commissioner Don O’Brien said, “I’m assuming that that does not mean to try to request or force the sheriff to reoccupy the building, because I’m not interested in that conversation whatsoever.”
“I believe it would be impossible or it would be disastrous if you put the sheriff back into that building. There is a lot of water under the bridge,” Cameron said, seemingly unaware of the pun, “and it would be an unsatisfactory solution.”
Mullins, who repeatedly reverted back to accusing previous commissioners of mishandling the building, said demolition “makes no sense to me,” because it tears down the asset. “As a builder, I’d buy this building in a minute,” he said. “This property is going to be very valuable, the building is very valuable.” He added, “I would gladly spend half a million to work on getting two million back, but there is going to be some public staining that needs to be addressed and reassurance, so it’s going to take a little work to get there.” But after he heard other commissioners speak, he quickly pivoted to the sell-as-is plan–and again reverted to wishing to “go after them,” referring to previous commissioners. His comment about buying the building “in a minute,” meanwhile, may not have been an errant statement.
Sullivan, saying that “logic may say one thing”–and appearing to hint that in other circumstances the county could take a different approach–said “the political aspects of this decision are outweighing all the other aspects, so therefore I’ve learned a lesson from this, is, don’t buy old buildings. Period.”
FlaglerLive relies on a strong core of donors. But they’re just a fraction of the 25,000 readers who daily depend on FlaglerLive for reliable, fearless reporting and analysis you cannot get anywhere else. If you’re still on the sidelines, we need you to join the Friends of FlaglerLive today. Elections, storms, the latest catastrophe - when dependable and factual local reporting will be more essential than ever, take a stand for integrity and have a direct voice in fostering serious journalism in your community. As little as $10 makes a difference, or better still, become a monthly donor: Become a "Friend of" FlaglerLive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donations are tax deductible. Think of it as buying a "scoop", in every sense of the term!
Reader Interactions
Comments
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Dave says
Get the sheriff and his employees in this building after some repair, why would the sherriff want to cause this county so much stress just to make a point. If the building is repaired he has no say weather or not to get his employees back in this NON sick building. NO EMPLOYEES WERE POISONED. It has been said on record plus the tests havent eve come back to say there is a problem. If it is demolished than atleast build the new station on the same land,no need to spend money on more land.
You cant put lipstick on a pig and expect it to be humble and do what best for its county
Knows Jack says
Can’t we move Captain’s BBQ in there?
ASF says
Only if you promise to eat there at least once a week.
Jimbo99 says
“Repair costs for Option 3 would run $412,761 at current estimates.”
The county just killed an entire Economic Development Council/Deprtment that underperformed. Bam, there’s your renovation/repair money in a single year’s salaries & operating budget. Cut the BS and make this right, even if it means cutting the school budgets.
https://flaglerlive.com/145862/flagler-county-economic-development-pt/
““If we can sell it, sell it as is. If it goes on for, say, over a year, at that point we just revert to Option 1, demolish the building and go from there.””
“There’s a $7.5 million debt on the building, including principal and interest, backed by the county’s half-cent sales tax.”
How many ways to Sunday has this been a total disaster of gross incompetence ? I don’t think the “experts” are experts at valuation or much of anything else. If it drags on for a year ? How long was it on the market prior to being bought by the county ? Let’s scale back the county’s highest salaries to pay for this screw up. Take it out of their pension funds. Staly himself, renovated property in another state (TN). Maybe reinvesting in Flagler County would’ve been a better place to spend that money, it is where these folks work, earn their incomes & currently live, even can retire ? I can’t imagine TN being any better place to retire than Flagler county ? The leakage of money out of the county has to stop, be reinvested in where you are, earn your living. I lived in GA, NC & TN at certain points in my life, I prefer FL & Flagler county. And if I were to be fortunate enough to ever be employed by Flagler County any time at the salaries some are compensated, reinvesting locally is the only plan I’d ever have. We’ve all heard the term “carpet baggers” for the NYers and NE USA outsiders ? Well, SE USA anywhere North, South or West of Flagler county are just as much carpet baggers when the money leaks from this community/county. And don’t give me this line that you can’t tell anyone where to spend their money, not when this and a 2nd (Sear’s) property has become a burden to taxpayers for the same reason(s), mold infested properties. Obviously, the 1st building and nobody learned from that mistake.
John R Brady says
Mullins, who repeatedly reverted back to accusing previous commissioners of mishandling the building, said demolition “makes no sense to me,”Hey Joe how did you vote on buying the Bank building for a Sheriff’s sub station. I then you all discovered there was a large safe in the building. Who would have thought that? Now comes the Sear building, how did you vote on that?
Joe since you are a self proclaimed developer, you should not vote on any issues even close to purchasing land or buildings. It is at least the appearance of conflict of interest. I would guess even your comments are out of line on the sale of this building. Being out of line is your stock and trade and maybe it is time to take your show on the road.
Dennis says
You should had demolished it a year ago and rebuilt on the same property that had all the necessary parking, and landscape done. But not Flagler County. Piss away millions more building elsewhere. Money is no issue, just raise taxes. No responsibility here
Doug says
Sounds like Joe Mullins needs to take a walk on down the street…for good and stay out of politics. But as history shows, the most ignorant voters vote for people like Joe, even with his history. National examples are, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Chuck Shumer and here’s a south Florida local take-all winner, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
Robjr says
https://flaglerlive.com/53520/flagler-hospital-sheriff/
Memorial Hospital Flagler’s moribund years may be over if Flagler County and its current owners can agree on a sales deal. The property is listed for sale at $1.75 million. It was acquired in 2006 for $750,000. Its just market value is currently listed at $354,000 by the Flagler County Property Appraiser.
Value 350K. Sold 1.75 mill.
Ask Bruce Page, and Michael Chiumento if they want a bargain? LOL
Yankee Ex-Pat says
Yet another Palm Coast Cluster-f–k !
Larry Blankenship says
Joe Mullins is delusional.
Outsider says
Of course they want this behind them; they don’t want anyone looking into what happened to all the money. If the people involved in all of these deals didn’t get a fistful of dollars out of all this corruption, then they really are stupid. The building needs to be repaired, even if it costs another million and the sheriff needs to move back in. This county has become a bureaucracy out of control and needs to be put back in it’s place. The real yahoos are sitting in the commission chairs.
palmcoaster says
Hansen has the nerve to call resident tax waste watcher Dennis McDonald a Yahoo with other complainners out there? What a travesty of one of these useless drunken sailors burning our hard earned taxes. Meanwhile the 600,000 for additional sheriff traffic units needed in this county and cities day in and day out traffic slaughter is not forked and they keep us with a part time EVAC helicopter for fires and accident injuries for lack of funds, on top sue the taxpayers that complaint! Our manatees are being slaughter in our canals by speeding boaters on the absence of enough marine patrol probably also scarce funds assigned by these bozos in the FCBOCC. Thank you Flagler Live as if not for you all will be hidden under shrouds. Elections are coming and hope enough good honest local taxpayers run for office.
Doug says
Good riddance already! That building sat for years, how can any person in there right mind believe (well then again, we are dealing with mostly inept politicians) it wouldn’t have some issues? Bulldoze and be done with it!
Corinne “Cori” Hermle says
Seriously?
.
.
.
Seriously!?!
.
.
.
SERIOUSLY!!!!!
Are you kidding me?!?
They’re going to demolish the building that the county owes $7.5 million dollars on.
Beyond a perfunctory hand wave attempt to try and recoup some of that loss, I think we all know that building is going to get bulldozed and sold in some kind of sweetheart real estate deal to a friend.
This is beyond ridiculous. Months upon months of handwringing, and then when it comes time to try and recoup some value for the taxpayers of Flagler, suddenly time is of the essence? Why the rush?
Voters of Flagler County, we CANNOT afford this county commission.
You WILL have your taxes repeatedly raised to pay for all this debt that they are taking on. Debt that is getting you NOTHING in return.
Because of decisions like this, THAT is why I am running for county commissioner.
Because I believe voters should have a CHOICE; to have a representative who will actually try to give them VALUE for their taxpayer dollars. Value that I don’t believe the current county commission is striving for.
Cori Hermle
Candidate for County Commission District 1
http://www.hermle.us
attila says
The commissioners spend our money to profit endowed people for their own profits. Why not throw in the Sears store and have a two for one sale. It’s only tax payers money and they’re so ignorant they wouldn’t notice.
CB from PC says
General William Tecumseh Sherman would know how to deal with this.
Jaybee says
The Seminole county Sheriff’s dept built a new office. It was poorly constructed and in a short time the emploees were sick from mold. I have no idea what it cost to repair it, but perhaps someone in a post of authority could make a call and get advice from those who know!
Land of no turn signals says says
It’s so easy to piss away millions of dollars of tax payers money.Make the real estate agent,the contractor,the building inspector who inspected it pay for the repairs.Now we bought another shit hole AKA the Sears building and the the same stooges were involved.See a pattern?
palmcoaster says
Anyone new running for county commission has my vote! Go ahead Cori and win and if you do so please do not create another white elephant called Business Development Department like the one just, I believe, dismantled that had our taxes pay for it half a million plus a year… Just get those high paid county staff do their work instead as every time they need to move a pen they hire a pricey consultant…while the services (sheriff more traffic units, EVAC part time pilot helicopter) we pay for are denied.