Dear Editor,

With the mayor’s veto of the city council’s proposed contract with Historic City of Jefferson for the restoration of the Bassmann house on West McCarty, a few clarifications are in order:

One of the mayor’s three reason’s given was clearly false. The mayor said the building has no historical value. This ignores the fact that the site is on the National Register of Historic Places. Also, it was previously designated by the City of Jefferson itself as a local landmark, an award given to officially recognize historic buildings.

The mayor says he is carrying out the long term vision of the city for West McCarty as established by previous city councils. He ignores the fine work done by the current city council which recognized that previous issues no longer exist. For one, the land occupied by the State Health Lab is now in play. This was not formerly available for a conference center. Plus, all developers but one have said that the historic buildings on West McCarty are not an impediment to construction but a potential enhancement if revitalized. Hopefully, the mayor was not favoring any one developer with his veto.

He also alleges that by spending more money, as much as $20,000, to tear the building down, that he is being a prudent manager of the city’s money. The city spent an inflated $200,000 for this property in 1998. Yet, ultimately, he plans to give the property to a private developer and even tear it down for them. Even though the best plan for a conference center may not include the property this house is on and it would have been destroyed for what?

The writing was on the wall when the city recently quashed one developer’s proposal to pour more than $600,000 into restoration of the Bassman house. What a historic loss for our community.

Tony Smith