City Hall Is First Step Toward Town Center

Central Mayor Jr. Shelton said building the new Central City Hall at the corner of Hooper and Sullivan roads is important right now because it will be the anchor of the new Town Center. “Eight years of planning have been put into the Town Center, but until we build City
Hall, Town Center cannot proceed.”
He said City Hall was originally supposed to be 7,000 to 8,000 square feet but Councilman Jason Ellis convinced him that Central City Services should be in the same building for the convenience of citizens. In addition, IBTS, the city contractor, will pay rent at fair market value.
The cost estimate is $4.5 to $4.7 million. The city has applied for state
Capital Outlay Funds to help out.
The mayor also said building City Hall has in no way been prioritized ahead of Central’s drainage needs.
“Not a single drainage project has been or will be delayed because of building the new City Hall. We have $25 million in drainage work in the pipeline. The top three priorities now are drainage, roads, and City Hall.” The city is in negotiations now with the school board on the
purchase of the land for City Hall.