The Gadsden Times | Federal Building in Jeopardy
Federal Building in Jeopardy
The Gadsden Times | March 26, 2012
Past talk about closing Gadsden’s historic and ornate Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse at the corner of Broad and Sixth streets went nowhere, but the jeopardy now appears to be real.
It’s on a list of 60 sites in 29 states being considered for closure by federal officials, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. Federal courthouses in Florence, Opelika and Selma also are on the chopping block.
The facilities were ranked from 1 to 60 as to which are the “best” candidates for closure; Gadsden is No. 22, close to the top third.
Federal officials say that the facilities, which are located in small or midsize cities, don’t have resident judges, meaning judges have to travel from other, larger venues to hold court there. An argument could be made that it would be streamlining the system to eliminate places that don’t get a lot of action.
However, the real motivation here is money, same as in 2002 when the General Services Administration, which is in charge of such federal buildings, questioned whether it was feasible to continue maintaining the Gadsden site given its limited usage (the answer was yes). Periodic U.S. District Court and Bankruptcy Court proceedings are held there, and the building also houses the local office of U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, a U.S. Army recruiting station, federal probation offices and the Social Security Administration’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review.
The documents acquired by the AP place the annual rental and operating costs for the 60 facilities at $16 million, although there was an inference that there would be additional savings from closing the sites.
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