City of Newcastle officials have been discussing the need for a new City Hall the past few years, and they’ve now taken action to begin planning for a facility.
At the August City Council meeting, the council approved an ordinance which establishes a fund for deposits that will be used to provide for a new facility along with equipment, furniture and fixtures.
By establishing the fund, the City is committing to deposit monies which will build up and eventually pay for a portion of the new City Hall. This planning is how the City paid for part of the new $9.8 million fire station.
Mayor Karl Nail said, “If you’ve been to City Hall, you know we are out of space, and by the time we get to the point where we can build a city hall, we are really going to be out of space. We’ve been very judicious with the other things we’ve done such as the fire department and the wastewater treatment plant.”
Nail said the City should get this project into their cash flow so they know it can be built, and that it is not going to impact the other services the City provides to the citizens.
City Manager Kevin Self said by approving the fund, the City will be able to take 50% of any excess sales and use tax which comes in during any given month from what the City has budgeted for 2024-25.
He said this would continue until the City gets to a point where they can start with engineering, similar to what was done with the fire department.
He also said if there is a really good excess at the end of the budget year, the City could potentially make a one-time transfer of about $250,000 towards the project.
He added, “Primarily it’s going to be that 50% of any excess sales and use tax.”
Conceptual designs and elevations have been done for a City Hall, but Self said nothing has been established.
From previous City Council discussions the idea has been to locate the new City Hall next to the recently opened fire station on South Main Street.
Although no timeline is firm, City staff has been discussing the possibilities.
Self said, “We kind of have a goal of maybe three years of doing this, and then we start engineering. The engineering would take about a year, and then we are four years out, and then maybe five, six or seven, we start construction.”
