Hathaway Interviewed & JP’s Respond to Kirkpatrick’s Statement About Durand Center Opposition

JPs say nothing personal against Jeff Crockett, Hathaway and others still disappointed.

Judge Robert Hathaway joined KHOZ’s “Around the Table” program on Friday to further discuss the purchase of the First Presbyterian Church Building by the county.

Hathaway recounted some the history of these discussions that have gone on for several months now saying, “it started with the Old Federal Building. We started having troubles with it and noticing plaster falling from the ceiling up above the drop ceilings.”

Upon further investigation he said the many restorations of the building over time had covered up much of the problems as well as the historical appearance of the rooms. An inspection was done and retuned an estimate of $1 million to $2 million to fix what needed to be done. In addition to the cost parking remained an issue with the property.

“Harrison is growing, Boone County is growing,” Hathaway said, “and we need to expand. And so that’s when we decided to start looking for a building.”

Hathaway said major renovations of the current facilities was not considered because of the building themselves, not so much the money involved.

When asked if the $5.5 million allocated for the purchase and renovation of the church building would have done the necessary renovation to the other buildings he said, “I don’t know if the money wouldn’t come close to doing it but it’s the historical value of the building that we can’t do that to. We can’t build on to the outside.”

In a search for a new home Hathaway said, “The Crockett building was my first choice.”

He said construction would have been minimal, Signature Bank could have stayed put in their current location and help to offset some utility cost.

“That would have been our best option, I feel. I took it before the Quorum Court and it was voted down, and so I hated that because it would have kept us downtown where we wanted to be,” he said.

The next option was the old First National Bank building which was less than a third of the size of Crockett Tower. In addition, the bank wanted to keep a presence there and lease their space for $25 per year for 25 years which Hathaway didn’t feel would be fair to other banks in town and would force him to make the same offer to any other business on county property.  

As for why Hathaway thought the court opposed the purchase of Crockett Tower, he said that he felt much the same way that Heath Kirkpatrick did, who on Thursday’s “Around the Table” program said it had to with personal feelings toward the building’s owner Jeff Crockett. Hathaway mentioned the fact that some justices said they would not vote to purchase the building even if it passed inspection, which Jeff Crockett had agreed to let happen.

“That made me think that, that might be what the problem was, maybe it was a personal feeling,” he said, “I would like to think that I’m not that way. My personal feelings mean nothing to anyone but me. I’m here to serve the county and the community and I want to do what’s best for the community.”

He also said, “I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus or anything because … we really never did get it inspected.”

KHOZ reached out to the JP’s that voted against purchasing Crockett Tower and heard responses from two of them.

Ralph Guynn said his problem with the building was its age. “It’s going on 44 years since it was built,” he said.

Bobby Woods said his issue was, “Nothing personal at all. Just the building, the way it’s structured and built. I think it’s good possibility that it would have ongoing problems that it’s already experienced. The main reason I have is that our public tax dollars have already owned that building at one time and it was disposed of for basically the same reasons that we’re looking at moving out of the buildings we have. I don’t think it’s a wise idea for our public tax dollars to buy it again.”

Upon purchasing the property in 2019 Crockett appeared to do major renovations, replacing windows in the atrium and saying that the well-known mold issue inside the building was taken care off. When asked about his knowledge of the repairs Woods said, “No, I don’t know to what extent he fixed or repaired things.”

As far as a cost comparison is concerned Judge Hathaway says he believes purchasing Crockett Tower, which was offered to the county for $3 million, would have saved money in the long run because of the minimal renovation that would have been needed.

“Most of the walls within that tower are removable and you can change it quite a bit easier than you can most buildings,” he said.

The case may have been different with the bank building because it did not have enough space to accommodate everything that was needed.

Regarding the perception people have that some of the JP’s don’t want to do business with Jeff Crockett Hathaway said, “I’ve heard it some from the public and stuff like that and that’s sad. I don’t know why someone who has made a good living and worked hard to do that, and stuff, should be ostracized for it…”

As for the future of the Boone County Courthouse he said, “I have no intention, as long as I’m County Judge, that the courthouse will ever be sold. I’d like to move offices in there, whether it be law offices or something like that, to draw people downtown. So, the idea that we’re just going to abandon it and not take care of it, no… it was my vision to see that, that courthouse always stays there.

The full interview with Judge Robert Hathaway can be seen by clicking here.