City, county officials both want control of courthouse parking
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County Executive Kenneth Rogers, who had the signs removed last week, did not give away any clues as to whether the signs would remain.
“I’m not going to say right yet,” he said Friday. “I hate to be childish about it. They can put them up and we can take them down, but all that’s going to do is waste taxpayers’ money.”
Rogers instead said he agrees with what city officials said after members of the city’s Safety Committee met late Thursday. All concerned said ownership of the property around the courthouse needs to be legally determined.
In Thursday’s meeting, Mayor Royce Davenport described relatively minor parking issues and related discussion for several months leading up to last week’s sign removal and said he didn’t initially know why the signs were taken down.
Davenport said he was advised by the city attorney to tell Rogers he had “exceeded his authority.”
Rogers said Friday it is a simple issue of employee parking at the courthouse. City ordinances dating back to the late 1970s show there are only a few spaces specifically designated for state or county officials there, while Rogers said he believes other county employees should be able to park there more freely.
Rogers said Friday since most county business has been relocated to Locust Street in the Warren County Administrative Offices, there should be no reason remaining courthouse employees cannot park in the area immediately in front of the building.
“I feel like it’s equally important for county employees to park closer to where they work,” he said, noting city employees can park at the Blue Building all day. To that end, city officials said Thursday they asked employees to park at the side of city hall.
The ’70s-era documents reference an agreement between the county and the city. The documents state, in brief, that the city was to regulate/enforce traffic flow and parking at certain locations around the courthouse and that spaces for high-ranking public officials, the sheriff’s department or the handicapped were to be reserved. Also noted in the documents was recognition of the city’s jurisdiction to regulate and enforce parking.
As the issue turns to ownership of the property around the courthouse, with both sides claiming ownership, an obvious question is why the county and the city would need such an agreement if it is considered city property. Rogers said he also wondered why the county was asked to pay for projects around the courthouse if it is strictly city property.
Both Davenport and Rogers indicated a strong desire to have legal resolution as to ownership, which would better indicate true parking authority.
Thursday, Safety Committee members voted to replace the signs “immediately” and write a letter to the chair of the Warren County Commission to inform commissioners of what they were doing, as well as to say if there are some parking issues downtown, they would be glad to discuss them. They also formally voted to try to define ownership.
PHOTO INFO:
Parking signs like this one located near the front of the courthouse were replaced by city officials after being taken down by county officials last week. County Executive Kenneth Rogers ordered the parking signs taken down, and McMinnville Mayor Royce Davenport ordered the signs put back up. City and county officials said, aside from the parking issue, courthouse property ownership should be determined. (Amy Satterwhite photo)