Courthouse Square Internal Staff Team Minutes

Home Browse Search

The inarguable facts about Courthouse Square are these: ~ 1. The Salem city Council has asked the transit board to move its bus terminal from High Street to another site and has endorsed the Courthouse Square location. 2. Marion County is obligated by state law to provide significantly expanded space to the circuit court, and the county commissioners after extensive public consultation have concluded the space should be provided in portions of its cCourthouse now occupied by county offices. 3. The federal government has ~ge~e-g~grcmted the transit district $7.7 million for construction of a bus terminal at Courthouse Square. 4. The county and the transit district have spent or committed $6 million to the Courthouse Square project. +~ • --r~~- ~:+ ~- ~F a x~eg~e~s-e~ew-t~~-se~~y-a~d-t~r-ansit-~~c~-se~~d-b~~~b~sed-fe~~ha~ ~di~-i.f-~e~ej~ct~~e-~~bax~e~} 5. The proposed methods of financing the county's share of Courthouse Square, the 1SSL1ariCe Of ann~ial annrnnri~finr+ ~hlin.~tinr~~ ~~ either revenue bonds or certificates of participation are legal and widely used in Oregon. It does not require voter approval. Members of the public have appeared before the committee to suggest that we should address such questions as these: • Is a bus terminal-office building the best use of the Courthouse Square site? • Should the county's ownership of part of Courthouse Square before the plan was ~ unveiled have played a factor in site selection? • Should voter approval have been sought for the project? • Should the so-called "pulse" operating system for buses be replaced by a"grid" system? • Should county offices be consolidated? • Should the site be downtown Salem? ' Are other sites appropriate for county offices? • Are the county and transit district, functioning is a period of rapid growth and economic prasperity, being complacently optimistic in seeking to build space that will be temporarily leased but theoretically will be required over the next 25 years as Salem and the county continue to grow? Committee members bring a variety of perspectives to such questions, but all acknowledge that no one elected us to make public policy. That is a job for elected officials. T'hus, we have not revisited those matters. The committee continues to be uneasy about the lack of precision in materials it has been given. Three new examples: (1) The committee was told in February that "in the neighborhood of $450,000" would be ~er•~e~-required annually from county appropriations to operating departments to pay for Courthouse Square; that total became $631,326 in April; (2) A 19961etter from financial advisers said, "Staff has continually emphasized the importance of achieving a ~ 2