(Arnolds Park)– A groundbreaking ceremony was held this afternoon on the construction of a new city complex in Arnolds Park that will house the city’s administrative offices, library, police and fire stations. The new facility will be located at the site of the current city hall and will be expanded to the east on some property the city acquired a few years ago.
Mayor Jim Hussong says city hall as been at the current site since 1997. Before that, the building was housed by a used car business. Hussong says today’s (Fri.) groundbreaking represents years of planning…
“We have a great library, so we need a lot more room for that. When we moved into this building we had two police officers working and now we have several more, part time and full time. It will be nice. The equipment we have for the fire department has gotten bigger, its gotten more technical on that side of it so we need more room and more space for the fire department plus we’ve added other equipment since ’97, of course. Yeah, it will be a good thing all around. We’re going from 8,000 square feet to 22,000 square feet so we’re going to have a lot more space to spread out and offer programs for both our full time residents and also our, you know, people that come in the summertime, our visitors, especially with the library.”
City offices are currently closed and will reopen Tuesday of next week in a temporary location. Hussong says that will allow demolition work to get underway in coming weeks…
“So we’re going to start doing the demolition in September and hopefully we’ll be back in there in December of 2026. In the meantime right now our library has already moved. They’re in the city center mall which is by the post office in Arnolds Park and then that’s also where the city hall is going to take temporary residence. So if you need anything from there, both the library and city hall, that’s where you need to go while they’re doing construction.”
The fire and police departments are temporarily located at the former Overhead Doors Sales and Service location in Arnolds Park. City Council, Zoning and Board of Adjustment meetings will be held in the conference room at the Iowa Great Lakes Chamber of Commerce.
The city issuing not to exceed $15 million in revenue bonds to fund the project.
Photo: Mayor Jim Hussong addresses council members, city employees and a crowd that gathered for Thursday’s groundbreaking.
