New city hall nears completion – Daily Journal Online

It wont be much longer before Leadwood city officials can begin conducting business in a brand new city hall building rather than inside the basement of a church or the local fire house.

Charlie Lewis, the projects contractor and member of the Leadwood Board of Alderpersons, said he expects construction to be completed within about the next six weeks. Once the building is finished, it will be up to city officials to arrange for some dirt work and to install an asphalt parking lot. Providing furnishings and office supplies will, of course, also be up to the city board.

Aside from a few minor details, the exterior of the building certainly looks done from the siding, windows and doors, to the roof and awning at the front entrance. A peek inside reveals that the new city hall will look much different than the old structure, with a combination courtroom/city meeting room, an office area for the city clerk and water/sewer department clerk, a public restroom near the entrance and other small rooms along the back of the building.

The room for public meetings and court proceedings will have an elevated bench with seating for the municipal judge during court and for the mayor and alderpersons during city meetings.

According to Lewis, finishing the interior walls is the next stage of work putting up drywall and mud, followed by painting along with installation of a dropped ceiling.

The old building, which was damaged in a fire on Sept. 17, 2015, was torn down about a month later after city officials set up a temporary city hall office in the basement of the Leadwood United Methodist Church, directly across the street from the former city hall.

Although the investigation into the cause of the fire by the State Fire Marshals Office was, and is, still ongoing, city officials were given the go-ahead just a couple of weeks after the fire to begin cleaning out the building and salvaging any content that had not been completely destroyed by fire or smoke.

Less than a month after the fire, in early October, a preliminary insurance settlement was reached and board members began to make preliminary plans for a new city hall. The initial settlement included $39,405 for the building, $25,000 for contents and city property and up to $10,000 to tear the building down.

Despite some disagreement among city officials about the economic feasibility of building a new structure, they began to cautiously move forward with the construction project by soliciting bids from contractors in mid-January.

Some controversy over the bid process ensued after receiving only two sealed bids for the construction project one from then-Mayor Pro Tem Lewis with numerous residents voicing their claims that it was unethical, and perhaps illegal, for Lewis to submit a bid in the first place. It was also argued that his position with the city gave him an unfair advantage in the bidding process.

The vote on the bids was tabled until advice and counsel could be obtained to address the residents concerns, which turned out to be unfounded. The Missouri Ethics Commission and Eric Harris, the citys attorney, both came to the conclusion that Lewis involvement in the project, within certain limits, did not violate any ethical or legal concerns and the project briefly recommenced.

The project stalled again with the upcoming April 2016 election and a chance that the composition of Leadwoods governing body would change rather significantly.

As it turned out, Lewis, who had been serving as mayor pro tem since the previous mayor resigned shortly after the April 2015 election, lost his bid for mayor to Dennis Parks. In addition, the board gained two new aldermen.

Things started to get back on track in June, however, when board members voted (with Lewis abstaining due to his direct involvement in the project) to follow through with getting financing costs from a lending institution in order to determine if the city could actually afford to have a new building constructed.

Despite two aldermen voting against the city borrowing such a significant sum Parks voted in favor to break the tie a measure that established the authority for the city to enter into a lease agreement with a finance agency was approved during a public meeting in late October 2016.

The agreement with FS Leasing, LLC provided the city with $225,000 in financing for construction of the building, which was added to the nearly $40,000 insurance payment for the former city hall building.

The pace of progress picked up immediately with a groundbreaking ceremony taking place on Oct. 28 and construction beginning less than a week later at the beginning of November.

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New city hall nears completion - Daily Journal Online