City Hall renovations approved by board

City Hall renovations approved by board

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GLUCKSTADT — City officials moved forward with plans on future renovations to City Hall Tuesday night with discussions of adding things like a room for a new circuit court.

Mayor Walter Morrison said he felt the building is already at capacity and renovations are necessary.

“This building is already full, and we need to have some renovations done to facilitate the formation of a city court and an area for suspects brought in by our police officers for fingerprints and mugshots,” Morrison said.

Morrision said the city also needs a space built directly behind the wall outside the board room that will serve as Gluckstadt Municipal Court clerk’s office, which will facilitate the processing of all fines and tickets.

He said the public can come in and pay off fines there, and after meeting with Kelly Dabbs, the owner of the building, they learned Dabbs could do everything the city needs for about $50,000.

Morrison added that he doesn’t know how police can properly do their job and how the city can facilitate the operation of a municipal court building without the renovations. The Police Department is already located in the City Hall building.

“When we start apprehending criminals and bringing them in the back room, we can’t have them running all over City Hall,” the mayor said.

 “We must have a secure place where they can come in and we can book them, mugshot them, and do all the things we need to do before we bring them in front of a judge. People are going to start getting speeding tickets and they need a place to come in and pay them or contest them.”

City Clerk Lindsay Kellum supported the idea of renovating the building since City Hall is busting at the seams already.

“We’ve had to move our Planning and Zoning Department into a conference room, we had to move our deputy city clerk to the front to talk to the public, and frankly, we’re just running out of space,” Kellum said. “We have to have somewhere to do this, at least temporarily.”

The board voted unanimously to approve and revise the City Hall lease to move forward with the renovations. Morrison said he will discuss the lease with Kelly Dabbs later in the week.

In other matters, the board:

• Unanimously approved the purchase of equipment and safety supplies for general city maintenance (public works projects).

• Approved a revised fireworks ordinance that will go into effect in January 2023 with a 4-1 vote.

• Unanimously approved a site plan for a two-story Dees Office Building owned by Rav Bedi at Dees Plaza. 






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