Shawnee officials recently announced their intent to repurpose the Santa Fe Depot and did so without even consulting the Pottawatomie County Historical Society (PCHS) board who holds a long-standing lease for the building. And they immediately followed up with plans to cancel that lease.
The city’s stated reason for canceling the lease was that the PCHS violated the terms by not using it as a museum. No mention of the fact that the city violated its terms by allowing the building to become uninhabitable. Rain has been pouring in for years while the PCHS director pleaded with the city for repairs, to no avail. Does the city really expect the PCHS to store and display Irreplaceable historic artifacts in a building with standing water and peeling paint and plaster? The PCHS’s intent is and has always been to promote the building as a train museum.
No money the city says, but this is not true. The city has found lots of money over the years for other projects, including millions for the Expo Center. Did the city have money readily available for those improvements? No, but there is this thing called municipal bonds that can be used for capital projects and borrowed against as they are paid down or paid off.
Another excuse is that the current use of the Santa Fe Depot does not generate revenue. Neither does the Expo Center but that didn’t stop the city from investing millions in repairs and upgrades. The city justifies this by saying they experience a bump in sales tax every year during the rodeo but that is also not true. When discussing return on investment for the Depot, no mention is made of the sales tax dollars it generates through tourism.
One question that begs to be asked is, since the Depot needs to be repaired no matter what, why the urgency to cancel the PCHS lease? Why not make the repairs and work with the PCHS on ways to maximize revenue? There is nothing the building can be used for that will generate $2 million in the near future.
Since none of this seems to make sense, is it possible other plans are being discussed behind closed doors? Perhaps the former mayor’s grandiose multi-million dollar park plan that encompasses the Depot (https://www.shawneeok.org/ government/departments/parks/Parks.php)? I hope not, but if so you can probably get ready for some kind of new sales or ad valorem tax referendum.
Linda Agee, Shawnee
Shawnee
