An intergovernmental agreement between the City of Danville and Vermilion County, for the joint tear down of Danville’s Bresee Tower and the county’s old Court Annex building, has been tabled by a County Board committee.
During their Thursday evening (Aug 22nd) meeting, the Executive and Legislation Committee unanimously tabled the proposed agreement; hoping to get some questions answered, bring it up in committee again next week, and then perhaps still have it on the agenda for the next full County Board meeting on September 10th.
An intergovernmental agreement between Danville and Vermilion County for the tear down of Bresee Tower (left) and the old County Annex building (right) has been tabled by the Vermilion County Board Executive and Legislative Committee.
Committee member Steve Miller said one thing concerning him is language in a certain paragraph stating that the deal to have the city overseeing the bidding process is terminated once the bidding process is worked out. In Miller’s eyes, as the county is the owner of the footprint of the annex building, the agreement should stay in play, with both parties working together, all the way to the completion of whatever will be there next.
AUDIO: The language in this paragraph defies understanding to me. You have an agreement so that people will know what their rights and responsibilities are. And this language seems to suggest that the agreement will be null and void after the selection of the successful bidder. And I think that’s just when our relationship really begins.
Another concern expressed by the committee was that if the city has received some kind of estimate on how much the dual tear down will cost, they want to know. After all, the county has to pay for the “tearing down of the annex building part.” Miller says if the city is putting in language about “555 days to get the project done from the start,” and offering a $325 per day bonus for each day it’s done before then; then the committee says they’d like to know about any estimates received, even to just have it discussed in executive session.
AUDIO: And since we are not going to end up with the ownership of this property, and will make no further use of this property; I don’t think it is important to us how soon or how late the project gets completed. And I don’t think that we would want to participate in paying that bonus for early completion.
Executive Committee and County Board Chairman Larry Baughn says the committee’s tabling decision will be taken to the State’s Attorney’s Office, asking them to contact City of Danville Corporation Counsel for some additional discussion.
