Key West City Hall finally opens for business

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

It has that new car smell.

Visitors to the just-opened Key West City Hall, or, to be accurate, the “Josephine Parker City Hall at Historic Glynn R. Archer School,” are marveling at the interior of the renovated building. Bright white and turquoise walls are so freshly painted that no scuff marks can be found. Several sections of Dade County Pine are spread throughout the building, gleaming from their restoration. And the gray carpet that flows throughout the building has white squiggles in it that resemble the top of a Hostess Cupcake.

“It’s such a professional building,” gushed City Clerk Cheri Smith. “I went from being in a slum to a palace.”

Smith was referring to the temporary city hall at Habana Plaza, which was less temporary than many wanted. Hoping to move this past summer, the relocation had to be repeatedly pushed back because of construction delays.

But that’s old news. The new building is actually two structures connected by an outside shaded walkway. The front building facing White Street contains offices for the city clerk, mayor, city commission, city manager and city attorney. The back building, which is entered from the parking lot, houses the customer service desk for building and licensing, code compliance, parking, planning, engineering, information technology, human resources and finance.

Scattered throughout the front building are mementos of the former elementary school, including a few wooden fold-down seats that used to be in the school auditorium. Two restored murals flank the city commission dais in the meeting room on the first floor. A huge, tarnished seal of the State of Florida – found hidden behind a wall that was demolished – hangs over the commission dais. And there is an electric car charger in the parking lot.

“It’s awesome. It’s superb,” Scholl said about the new building.

He also bragged about the actual move from the Habana Plaza offices into the new city municipal home. The move started on a Thursday and by the end of the next day, all staffers were out of the old offices. The vast majority of them even had telephones and computers up and running when they sat down in their new offices.

“It was prenominal,” Scholl said. “It’s unbelievable we could get that number of people moved and working in such a short time.”

In the back building, a long, curved desk houses the different department staffers who meet with the public to help them apply for a building permit, pay a parking ticket or request information about code regulations. Asked whether they were happy with their new digs, an immediate show of smiles stretched the length of the customer service desk.

The total budget estimate for the new facility is close to $18.8 million, which includes construction, architect fees, permits and other non-construction expenses such as furniture. The construction budget was reduced to $11,436,978 from the original $15 million largely due to the city making direct purchases of building materials, which eliminated state sales tax and resulted in a savings of close to $300,000, according to Kreed Howell, senior construction manager.

The final cost has yet to be determined, however, because city officials are still negotiating with Burke Construction over who will pick up the added costs associated with the multiple delays. For example, taxpayers had to pay an extra five months’ rent at Habana Plaza – approximately $37,500 a month – due to construction delays. City officials had hoped to move in July and allocated only enough money in the fiscal 2016 budget to cover the rent through that month. As a result, city commissioners approved a $120,000 amendment to the city budget on July 17 to cover an additional three months’ rent but that only lasted through the end of October.

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