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Commissioner Garrison urges standalone public discussion of proposed Department of Social Services relocation
Summary
Commissioner Garrison read a prepared statement asking the board to remove a proposed DSS relocation from embedded budget deliberations, called for transparent review of rent assumptions (which he said appear 'nearly double'), and said he contacted property owners who reported no recent negotiations on rent.
Commissioner Garrison used his allotted commissioner comment period on June 1 to call for a separate, standalone public discussion of a proposed Department of Social Services relocation.
Garrison said decisions about long‑term facilities, leases and operational impacts should be evaluated independently of broader budget deliberations so residents can understand costs, alternatives and long‑term effects. "Transparency is not an obstacle to progress. It is essential to maintaining public trust," he said.
He raised concerns about a rental figure presented to the board that he described as ‘‘nearly double’’ what local market rates would suggest and asked that staff provide the original assumptions and supporting documentation for the higher amount. Garrison said he contacted the property owners directly and was told there had been no recent attempt to negotiate or extend an agreement as of June 1; he said he finds that troubling and asked the board to present recent correspondence from owners detailing any rent request.
Garrison invited the public to weigh in at the board’s next meeting, scheduled for Monday, June 8 at 6 p.m., and urged that the relocation and any dissolution of leases be discussed in a transparent, standalone agenda item with documented cost assumptions and alternatives. No motion or vote on the relocation occurred during the June 1 meeting.
