Parkville officially opens new city hall
It was hot dogs and apple pie last Saturday morning as Parkville held an open house at the new city hall, located at 8880 Clark Street in the Parkville Commons – a uniquely American moment with significance not lost on those in attendance.
With Parkville’s astounding growth in recent years and the need to provide more services to residents, the city simply outgrew their old city hall.
“When I first came here, the government met in the railroad depot,” Bill Grigsby said as he spoke to visitors of last Saturday’s city hall open house. “It took a lot of people with excitement in their heart to build this.”
Mayor Kathy Dusenbery, in remarks made on the steps of city hall acknowledged that the building signified an important crossroads for the city.
“Before us today is not just a building, it is our future,” said Mayor Kathy Dusenbery. “It is a blending of old and new.”
Jim Allen of the Parkville Commons and Roger Hershey, Park University’s chief legal counsel, also made remarks. (See Nancy Jack’s column for more on the event.)
The city will make annual lease payments of $195,000 on the hall for the next 20 years, after which ownership will revert to the city from River North Development. The funds will be budgeted through the general fund, the municipal equipment reserve fund and the capital improvements fund.
The need for the new hall became evident after staffers simply ran out of in space in the old hall, which needed more than $1 million in necessary repairs and/or more than $3 million for repairs and expansion that would leave no further room for expansion.
Parkville’s new city hall is a split-level, conforming with the topography of the site. Straight ahead from the front door is the large meeting room for the Board of Aldermen which also is the Municipal Courtroom. On the right side is the Police Department, and on the left side are the judge’s quarters, the prosecutor’s office and court clerk’s office.
A staircase and an elevator just inside the front door provide access to the second floor which houses the Community Development and Public Works offices to the right, and administrative offices on the left.