Mayor suggests new building

By Ed Runyan | April 19, 2011 at 12:06a.m.

Warren Mayor Michael J. O'Brien

WARREN

Mayor Michael O’Brien is proposing the city make use of its borrowing power to construct a 40,000-square-foot, $7 million one-stop building to house city offices, buy a firetruck and snowplow, spend $2 million on residential road paving and refinance $4 million of current debt.

He makes no apology for proposing the idea several weeks before a primary election and 10 months before he leaves office.

“It’s been ongoing discussions,” O’Brien said of the timing of the proposal.

One candidate to replace O’Brien, UAW President Jim Graham, says he thinks this is a poor time for O’Brien to propose something like this and that it would be better not to tie the hands of the next mayor.

O’Brien said last week he expects city council to introduce legislation for the project, which would involve a bond sale, within a month.

The bond sale would be for $15 million to $20 million, O’Brien said.

The proposed new building would allow residents to pay their water and income-tax bill, receive vaccinations and buy birth and death certificates and allow contractors to take out building permits in one place.

It also would provide a location within a block of Courthouse Square, most likely on Franklin or High streets, for anyone needing to visit the Community Development Department, O’Brien said.

O’Brien says there are no buildings downtown that could be renovated for the city’s use, and construction of a new building would further help the development of the downtown.

With the federal and state governments proposing cuts in funding to the city, construction of an energy-efficient building could cut the city’s operational costs in the future, O’Brien said.

The city’s debt capacity is at its “highest level in more than 20 years,” O’Brien said, adding that it has been seven years since the city took on additional debt in a bond sale.

The city is in a good position to borrow right now because interest rates are low, and the city’s bond rating improved last year, he added.