Opening delayed for new City Hall
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on March 10, 2006 1:57 PM
There will be no grand opening next week -- no ribbon cutting, no public tours, no great speech by project leaders on a job completed.
But city officials said despite a few minor setbacks, Goldsboro's new City Hall should be finished by the end of March and the anticipation is continuing to build.
"We're excited," Tasha Logan said. "We really can't wait."
Ms. Logan, the city's assistant manager, said city staff is getting ready to move into their new home. The building was supposed to be handed over to the city earlier this week.
But a few revisions to the master plan caused city officials to push back the move-in date. Installation of an additional generator and work on the boiler room are among the reasons for the change in schedule.
Ms. Logan added, with the first wave of furniture scheduled to arrive March 13, the time for celebration is inching closer. And instead of mulling over a few more weeks of waiting, residents should be pleased that the job will be done right.
"We're shooting for the final inspections to take place on the 21st or 22nd," she said. "So hopefully, we'll have staff in here by the end of March. It's really going to look great in here."
Despite unexpected delays, the $4 million facility is coming together nicely, she said. The floors are down, security cameras are in place and doors and windows now separate rooms from hallways and the building from the outside world.
Ms. Logan said she remembers that not too long ago, only a few months, wires hung down from the vaulted ceilings downstairs, sawdust covered concrete floors and the walls awaited a few fresh coats of paint.
"Yeah, we were really walking through the walls not too long ago," she said.
Today, a few finishing touches and a round of final inspections are the only items left on project staff's "to do" list.
Once the building is complete and turned over to the city for use in its daily operations, there are a few more steps to go through before the grand opening -- moving furniture in and training staff to use the new equipment.
But the wait is almost over, Mrs. Logan said.
"We're almost there," she said. "And it's going to look great. I think people are going to like what they see."