Emerson questions Cape Girardeau Census office location

A federal government lease that will cost taxpayers $411,052 over 16 months came under fire Friday from U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, who questioned whether a better choice would have been to buy a building or take over unused space the government already owns.

Beginning in September, the U.S. Census Bureau will have a temporary office at 623 S. Silver Springs Road. The General Services Administration found the property for the Census Bureau, and it will be home for agency operations in the area during next year's national head count.

The price works out to $49.97 per square foot during the first year of occupancy, far more than the $12 per square foot rate advertised for the same building by Lorimont Place Ltd.

"For that kind of taxpayer money, you could buy a whole building for the Census," Emerson said in a statement issued Friday. "It's a huge amount of funding, and it's way above the going rate for retail space in Cape Girardeau."

In defending the lease, signed earlier this month, GSA spokesman Charlie Cook said costs beyond a basic lease drove up the price and that the spending is justifiable. The basic lease rate is $12.96 per square foot and operating costs are $6.07 per square foot.

The additional cost, Cook said, pays for improvements to the space that are needed to make it functional for the Census Bureau. The space was advertised by Lorimont as a retail location with 8,400 square feet.

Other offices prepared for federal agencies also incur costs, but they are spread out over leases that run for five, 10 or even 20 years. The Census Bureau is finding similar high costs for prepared office space in other locations, Cook said.

"That has been the case all across the country with the Census leases," Cook sad. "Part of the requirement is that it is a full build-out."

Space remains unused in the recently opened Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. U.S. Courthouse at 555 Independence St., Emerson noted, and 70 percent of the federal building at 339 Broadway is vacant as agencies move out in anticipation of the building being closed.

"To be frank, this is exactly why Americans are so upset at our federal government right now and especially on tax day," Emerson said. "There's no transparency, no accountability and no thinking outside the box. We have two federal buildings in Cape Girardeau with vacant space, and as far as I can tell neither one of them was seriously considered for use by the Census."

The GSA has declared the Broadway federal building as surplus property. Cape Girardeau County officials have the building in their sights as a potential location for courts and other offices.

"We easily could have made the new space ready for the Census or put off the disposal of the Federal Building for a year for this purpose," Emerson said. "I am sure our downtown businesses wouldn't have minded that one bit."

Putting the Census Bureau into the new courthouse or the Broadway location was not feasible, Cook said. The Broadway building, he said, was not considered as a location. "We are in the process of relocating the agencies we have left there," Cook noted. "That building wasn't even looked at because it is in the disposal process."

The new courthouse has space, Cook said, but it is not suitable for the Census Bureau and property managers said it would be difficult to prepare the space in time for an Aug. 17 deadline for occupancy.

The issue isn't whether the courthouse space fits every need perfectly but whether responsible management practices were used, Emerson said. "I am thoroughly disappointed there is no thought on the part of GSA or the Census about returning some of those funds to the Treasury and helping out taxpayers during a difficult economic time," she said. "Instead, it's a mentality that burning through taxpayer money is the best way for a federal agency to get more of it next year."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

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Pertinent Addresses:

623 S. Silver Springs Rd., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

555 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.,