New City Hall location on the table

The Board of Aldermen’s regular council meeting scheduled for Feb. 11 was cancelled, leaving numerous items on the table. This Thursday, Feb. 25, the board will meet at 7:30 p.m. to discuss several of these. 

Points of interest for the Feb. 25 meeting include a COVID-19 update, an update on the engineering services for the wastewater facility plan, presentations on the New City Hall Project, including a historical timeline of events related to this project, a slideshow of current space utilization, a presentation from BKD regarding a space needs analysis completed several years ago and numerous other items of business. Thursday will also mark the City of Marshfield’s first State of the City Address, given by Mayor Natalie McNish. 

“We will have our first “State of the City Address,” which will include a letter from myself, the presentation of the final budget book for 2021 and 2020 year-end financial statements, and will start the discussion of growth area implementation,” said McNish. “This is meant to communicate the budget process, priorities and expectations for advancement in the upcoming year.”

According to McNish, additional presentations will be held at the next board meeting as well, as there is a lot of unfinished business left to cover, as well as new items of business to bring up. Former Mayor Robert Williams will also be speaking at the meeting regarding the New City Hall Project and exploring other opportunities for expansion while avoiding the use of tax-payer money. 

“Moving City Hall was initially anticipated to be a cost reducing consolidation of city operations. However, actual estimates show it will cost 3-4 times the original projection and consolidation will be much less than we had hoped,” explained Williams. “Since it will now require tax dollars and restricted funds to complete and since the public will see little to no enhanced service beyond a location change, in my opinion the cost far outweighs the benefit. It can still be done if the community desires it, but the community has never been asked.”

Aldermen meetings are open to the public but are currently held via Zoom in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to the current executive masking order. To watch the Aldermen meeting live or to view recordings of previous meetings, visit www.marshfieldmo.gov, scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Read More” on the Feb. 25 meeting information to access the link to the Zoom meeting. Direct link and full agenda HERE.