(Spirit Lake)—History was made at Tuesday’s Spirit Lake city council meeting as it was the last regular meeting the council will be holding in the old city hall. City Administrator Mark Stevens…(click here for comment.) “This building’s been here in use by the city for 50 years. I don’t know exactly how long the council has been meeting here, but it’s been quite a long time and this was our last meeting her tonight. Our next meeting will be at the Spirit Lake Public Library as we consider working out an agreement with the county to be in the county building.”
Stevens says they’re still on track to move to the temporary city hall location in the former Sound ‘n Speed and antique building on the north side of Highways 9 and 71 next month. Stevens says city offices will be closed Friday, August 9th to accommodate the move, and that they’ll reopen Monday, August 12th in the temporary location. He says they’ll try to make the transition as seamless as possible for residents…(click here for comment.) “It’ll be more convenient to access the employees in the city hall because we’ll all be bunched together in a much smaller space. But other than that the mailing address will, the post office will still deliver mail, even if it’s addressed to this location; our phone number should stay the same; there should be minimal impact on the public.”
The old city hall, meanwhile, now has a date with the wrecking ball. The city council Tuesday awarded a bid of $38,850 from Valley Contracting of Estherville to demolish the building. Stevens says that’s still on target to take place late next month or in early September…(click here for comment.) “Our first step will be asbestos removal. We already have a contract for that. That work should begin in late August. When they’re done then the demolition contractor can move in.”
The demolition bid came in well below the original estimate of nearly $70,000.
Meanwhile, Stevens says planning for the new city hall is still in the design development stage. He says the council is tentatively scheduled to meet with the architect August 14th to finalize the plans.
