Timeline of City Hall Project

Feb. 2015 – The board learned of the building going up for sale. The owner of the time planned to replace roof and HVAC system and the city was aware the building wasn’t ADA compliant and would need an elevator costing about $80,000.

March 205 – City Hall discussion regarding utilization of the building occurs, but there are issues with drive-through in the lobby, 

July 2015 – The owner of the time (not the city) replaced the roof.

Aug-Nov 2015 – Additional discussion about purchase price, various financing arrangements but no decisions made.

Dec 2015 – Further discussion about making an offer. City acknowledges additional at least $350,000 for remodel

Jan-Oct 2016 – Board meets as new information becomes available. McNish notes the board was very focused in all the meetings at that point on making sure that the offer that they put forward was financially responsible.

Nov 2016 – The first time the board actually decides to make an offer of $150,000.

Feb 2017 – The previous owner has the building appraised and the appraisal comes back at more than $700,000. The appraisal also specifically notes there were no comparable real estate assets to comp in the state of Missouri. The former owner, Metropolitan bank, had the building booked at $500,000, the board estimated that the purchase price should be around $300,000 and that additional costs to remodel would be another $250,000. The board discussed additional financing opportunities since the bank wouldn't accept $150,000 offer but continued negotiation with the city.

March 2017 – Building was listed with a real estate broker at $550,000 but the city was considered exempt from that agreement because negotiation had already been under way. The county approaches city around the same time to purchase Fire Station #1 and a parking lot, the board determined fair price for that and figured they could use that money plus the money they had already deemed available for this purchase. They decided they would be able to make a reasonable offer on this property of $325,000.

April 2017 – Space needs analysis was done.

June 2017 – Board was notified of a potential tenant (Seymour Bank) once the purchase was finalized. At this point we're moving forward with the purchase of the building and the potential tenant at that time is still the current tenant. Board begins to gauge the interest of consolidation of assets, what we have, where we're operating and what they want to do with it. 

Sept 2017 – Space needs analysis was presented with floor plan, first as police department and second as city offices. They noted it wasn't a great fit for MPD.

Nov 2017 – Board works to identify revenue sources that can be reserved for portions of the renovations. Former City Administrator identified use of unallocated cash and noted tower rent and lease from the tenant in that building be allocated to a separate account to be used for future City Hall remodeling costs. In addition, it noted that those costs were not included in 2018 budget..

Feb 2018 – As project is moving forward and they have tenant that will be moving in, the city was awarded a bid for asbestos abatement in building, so that work has already been completed.

June 2018 – Board requested timeline on City Hall and wanted to see project in 2019 budget.

Feb 2019 – Board reviews qualifications and approves working with BKD. 

April 2019 – BKD provides proposed remodeling and renovation costs of $1.1 million – the financial advisor notes power, rent and lease revenues will not support a $1 million project.

May 2019 – Two work sessions occur where the board sets priorities for budgeting. The consensus of the board to make sure if the City Hall project wasn't in the 2019 budget, it was a priority in 2020 budget. 

July 2019 – City hires another firm, Nesbitt Construction to provide a second estimate to complete renovations to new City Hall building

Jan 2020 – That firm presents estimated costs of just over $1 million. That cost did not have contingency monies included but have additional options that could be removed from the plan which could save up to $160,000 of the just over $1 million cost. 

Aug 2020 – The board identified goals for 2021 budget and City Hall was there. 

Oct 2020 – Board discussed financing options in open session for City Hall, these consisted of new debt secured with the tower and lease revenues, also includes allocations of cash from selected funds.

Dec 2020 – Finance advisory presented a letter asking for additional review of this project. The Board of Aldermen met, discussed and came up with a plan to get education out, including timelines, information on motivation, investment that's already occurred, goal-setting, financial overview, etc.

Jan 2021 – Board sat down and decided how they were going to move forward, which leads us to the Feb. 25, 2020 meeting via Zoom.