Officials: Plans for building still up in air

July 27--The city of Clovis is planning to relocate one of its departments to a building purchased in October, but city officials say there's no telling which one will occupy the new space -- or how soon.

Including property tax, the city last year bought the former insurance office building on the 1200 block of Mitchell Street for $368,737, according to Clovis' Finance Director LeighAnn Melancon.

Almost 10 months later, City Manager Larry Fry said the city is still weighing out different options to decide what to do with the new space.

"It's not huge or anything," Fry said about the building, "but it could be more than one department, depending on the size of those departments."

Fry said City Hall's recent asbestos remediation is unrelated to the decision to make use of the new building.

Municipal Court, Building Safety, Information Technology and Emergency Management are departments that could be moving, Fry said.

He noted that Municipal Court is the "the key part" in the decision-making process because it would take extra effort to move.

"(The Mitchell Street building) is more set up for office spaces right now, so putting a court in the building would require some remodeling," he said.

Municipal Court Judge Jan Garrett wouldn't be opposed to the idea of relocating.

"I think it would be a nice facility for the court," Garrett said. "Right now, our facility is probably adequate, but if Clovis continues to grow, then the court may grow also in personnel, and we would need to move into a different facility at that point definitely. If the city decides it's a fit, then we will move."

She said whether the court stays or moves, security concerns need to be addressed.

"Unfortunately, we're living in a world where we need to be concerned about the safety of the people that come to the court and the people that work in the court," Garrett said.

Fry said there is no set time frame in moving forward with the building, but he hopes to be looking "pretty soon" at definitive plans.

"We're trying to get it finished," he said, "trying to gather costs of some of the different proposals. At this point, we're hoping to make some determination in the very near future."

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