Henningsen seeks to buy DCPD building
Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 1:04 am
By Larry Peirce
Banner-Press Editor
It's not every day that office properties in New York, Omaha and David City get mentioned in the same sentence or context.But that was the case Monday night when it was disclosed that Henningsen Foods had made an offer to purchase the David City Police Department building at 475 N. Third Street.
The proposal as part of a company office change that includes moving its New York operations to Omaha, and some of its Omaha management to David City.
Also, there are indications that the plant could grow beyond its current level of152 employees.
"Henningsen Foods has several new products in either market research or product development," said vice president Gary Lorimor. "In addition to staffing needs which would be housed in the police building, additional manufacturing facilities might be added onto the David City facility. Therefore purchase of the police building is a key part of our business growth plan."
The proposed sale was discussed at a special meeting of the City Council's Public Safety Subcommittee on Monday evening.
The meeting was attended by Mayor Dana Trowbridge, City Councilman Nick Hein and City Administrator Joe Johnson. Councilman Gary Kroesing, also a member of the committee, did not attend,
Trowbridge recalled that Henningsen Foods approached the city a couple months ago asked if the city would sell the building, which is a half block north of the plant on D Street. A letter from the company to the city explained that the company wants to move four management jobs and supporting staff to the David City economy.
The move is part of Henningsen's relocation of New York office to Omaha. Company would also use the large amount of space at DCPD for storage of up to seven years worth of records and administrative files.
The proposal sparked a few questions from the small audience, such as
how the city would create police department space elsewhere, and whether using the west end of the City Office Building on Fourth Street for a police department would be a workable solution.
Henningsen has made the preliminary offer of $45,000 based on what the company was told the city "had in the building" as far as expenditures, Johnson said.
Trowbridge said he thought the city might be justified asking $65,000 for the building, but he said adding four primary level salaries to the community would more than make up for accepting $20,000 less.
In a Monday email to the city from Gary Lorimor, vice president of operations, the company said on Monday that the company would come up to $50,000 and it also would share the building with the police department for a year while the city made other arrangements.
Hein, when asked by citizens for his thoughts, said that the proposal was still only a discussion.
"I'm open to the idea," Hein said. "It's not a done deal. Let's sit down and talk rationally and explore the possibilities. We need to be behind economic development and promote the city. Let's utilize the city offices efficiently and include improvements to make everyone happy."
Kroesing, in a phone interview Monday night, said the topic should have been discussed at a full meeting of the City Council, either at a special meeting or emergency meeting.
"This is a very important situation," Kroesing said. "It needs the full Council's attention. It doesn't need one or two people's attention."
Kroesing said that his absence at the meeting did not indicate he was opposed to working with Henningsen Foods. "I'm not hostile to it at all,” Kroesing said. "I just want some serious input on the issues."
Kroesing said he understood the importance of Henningsen Foods to the local economy, and also the company's hefty contribution to the lease-purchase of the city's wastewater treatment facilities.
Henningsen is a major water and sewer customer of the city, using as much water each day as a small town in its egg dehydration process.
The company also was instrumental in the tapping of methane from Butler County Landfill, since the landfill byproduct fuels the Henningsen Foods boilers.
Kroesing said that the subcommittee meeting, which replaced the Committee of the Whole meetings two months ago, was not the right venue for the discussion.
No decisions could be made at the subcommittee level, other than forwarding the sale proposal to the May 13 Council agenda.
"It's a one sided issue. I think you needed input from everybody. The way these subcommittees operate is not very good as far as I'm concerned."
Kroesing said that his main concern is the police department operations.
"We have no place for the police department to go," he said. "We've got a lot of ground to cover (before a sale.)"
Meanwhile, he said, Henningsen could lease other office space in town while the city worked on the building sale. He said the former Butler County Hospital building at Ninth and C Streets would be one option, or the former Rose Call Solutions offices at Fifth and D Streets.
City needs
Kroesing also said he wasn't pleased that Police Chief Steve Sunday was not present. Sunday was out of state at a conference.At the meeting, Johnson explained that Sunday was aware of the issues of the sale, and that he and Sunday both shared the concerns that the Police Department and other city office employees are able to conduct business without mixing the two departments.
The City Office could be altered to make sure that police work, including questioning of suspects or speaking to victims, would not interfere with the operations of billing and other work handled by city office staff, Johnson said.
Hein and Trowbridge said that the proceeds of the sale could be used to renovate the city office for police use on the west end. It might also help to provide a drive-up window so that elderly residents would not have to walk up to the door during frigid winter weather.
Hein said many towns house city offices and police departments in the same building.
Henningsen's a major employer
One of the main concerns, however, is making sure that Henningsen Foods remains in David City.
The company already has shown local commitment, Trowbridge said, through its funds provided for water treatment facilities and $50,000 toward the $572,100 resurfacing project to upgrade D Street surface and drainage in front of the plant.
"What would happen if Henningsen's left?" Trowbridge asked rhetorically.
Janis Cameron, owner of the True Value Hardware store, said the city's retail sector would take a major blow without the plant, and after that, the homes in the community would take a major loss of value.
"Let me be the first to sell my house," if the plant would leave, she said.
Trowbridge said David City is fortunate that Henningsen wants to remain here and could expand.
"They are going to grow somewhere," Trowbridge said. "These people can locate where they want to locate. They could build. They are a multinational corporation."
Legal ramifications
Exploring the legal requirements of selling city property, the
The city got an opinion from City Attorney Jim Egr on whether the sale could move forward without putting the building up for bid, or if another arrangement could be brought forward.
Egr wrote that state statutes require the city to sell the property at public auction or offering, giving others the opportunity to bid on the property.
However, he wrote, the city is not obliged to take the highest bid for the property, just as it is not required to take the least expensive bid when taking bid on purchases.
