The Allen County Commissioners have delivered a letter to Mayor Tom Henry saying that while appreciated, his suggestion to move ahead with option 3 is premature.
The Commissioners go on to suggest that options 2 and 3 should be investigated further with the hiring of a jointly engaged architect/engineer. Exploration of co-ownership vs. long-term lease should also be on the table.
Full text of the letter:
October 13, 2009
Dear Mayor Henry,
Thank you for your quick response to our letter last week. Â While we appreciate your suggestion to move ahead with option 3, we think that it is premature and that option 2 and option 3 should be investigated. Â We would suggest the following approach:
Jointly engaging an architect/engineer – While the Working Group has done a great job with limited information and resources, the Board of Commissioners believes that it is crucial to jointly hire an architectural/engineering firm to investigate the true upfront costs to remodel the buildings and move people.  We believe this will help us to better understand the costs of the options at hand.  We do not think it is in the best interest of the process or the taxpayers to have separate firms representing each entity’s interests; this will only serve to slow the process down.  The scope of the work for this jointly engaged firm should be to determine the remodeling and moving costs under both co-location options.
Exploring of co-ownership vs. long-term lease – The Board of Commissioners has asked previously for the City’s thoughts on the issue of co-ownership and has yet to hear a definitive response. Â This is not the pressing issue that the cost to renovate and move is, but it needs to be addressed. Â While both co-ownership and long-term lease present their own issues, we need to better understand the City’s intentions as we work to inform our County Council on this matter.
We thank you for your willingness to work with us to better serve the residents of this community. Â We look forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Allen County Board of Commissioners: Linda K. Bloom, Wm. E. Brown and F. Nelson Peters
CC: Allen County Council
Fort Wayne Common Council
Sheriff Ken Fries
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