City hall will be on the move next week

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Mt. Pleasant City Hall staff is on the move and will have for all intents and purposes, vacated the structure they called home for the past 80 years (the building was constructed in 1936) within 10 days.

The move also clears the way for disposal of the building. Over the past several months, the city has attempted to sell the building but has found no takers.

?We had many, many different inquiries and communications with people (concerning the current building),? City Administrator Brent Schleisman said this morning. ?The building has served its purpose and we have exhausted our efforts to sell it.?

The city had hoped to sell the building to a non-profit group, but Schleisman said that no group was very interested in the building. ?Money and having only one floor open to the handicapped seemed to be the two biggest obstacles,? he explained.

Consequently, it is likely the building will go on the auction block. During today?s Mt. Pleasant City Council meeting ? which starts at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers of city hall ? the council will consider entering into a contract with Sullivan Auctions of Mt. Pleasant to sell city hall. The city is hoping to have the auction next month.

City staff will be heading about five blocks east next week from the current location at 220 W. Monroe St. to its new location in the civic center/library building at 307 E. Monroe St. City offices will be located on the second floor, formerly occupied by the Mt. Pleasant Community School District?s central office.

?We hope to make the big move on Wednesday (Sept. 21),? the city administrator said. ?We are hoping to have the new computer and phone systems up and running by then. We also have purchased some new desks and we want all that set up first.?

Schleisman is anticipating an interesting week during the move. ?We will conduct business next week until Wednesday at the current city hall, but it may be chaotic. We hope to be doing business at the new city hall by Thursday. ?We are doing the moving ourselves, so there will be limited people here that the public can come in and talk to.?

He said there wasn?t much renovation work that needed to be done at the new location. ?We did some painting and put in one new section of carpet. It was in very good shape.?

City staff is looking forward to its new quarters, Schleisman said. Unlike the current city hall, which includes offices on three floors, all the offices will be on one floor at the new site, the building has an elevator and the city already owns it.