City Hall Will Be Renovated

Columbia City Hall will be larger and will take on a much different appearance in the not-to-distant future.
At Monday night’s meeting of the Columbia City Council, Mayor Pat Bell gave an update on the project and presented an architectural rendering of what the new facility will look like.
A 56’x40’ two-story addition (plus basement) will be built onto the present building in the now-vacant lot that was the former location of Rich’s Pool Room. The new part will house an expanded Columbia Police Department.
The front of the present building, which was built in 1964, will get a major make-over. The old concrete block façade will be torn down, the old windows will be replaced by new double-paned, tinted windows, and brick columns will be built. A new roof may also be added.
Mayor Bell said they anticipate the project to cost around $1 million, with a large majority of the financing coming in the form of a special allocation from the state legislature.
“House Bill 380 passed by the legislature provides us with $475,000 for the project,” the mayor explained. “We’ll be getting a $50,000 grant and $350,000 loan from Rural Development, and we’ll have to put in around $200,000 in local money.
“We’re going to get about a  million dollar building by putting up $200,000,” he continued.
The project, which is being designed by the architectural firm of Colbin, Porter and Associates of Frankfort, should be ready to bid by June, Mayor Bell said.
The first floor of the new part of the building, which will have separate outside entrances and not be accessible inside from the old building, will house the police department, which the mayor said is in dire need of more room. The second floor will be contain offices for organ-izations that are police or emergency-related.
The space now occupied by the police department will be used for offices or storage.
The mayor said he is looking forward to getting the much-needed project underway.
“I’m excited about getting the old building renovated, and a new building built to fill in the hole where the old pool room was,” he said. “We feel like it’s going to make quite a difference in the appearance of this area.
“With our project and the new Adair County Justice Center going up across the street, this end of town should be in pretty good shape,” he continued.
At the meeting, the council authorized the mayor to sign all the paperwork necessary to begin the process of obtaining the grant and loan from Rural Development.