By Ray King
Mayor Shirley Washington said Wednesday that the new air conditioning unit for City Hall has arrived and is in the process of being installed.
Washington updated members of the City Council’s Public Works Committee, Council members Ivan Whitfield and Joni Alexander, and said the new unit “looks like a state of the art unit” compared to the old unit.
The Mayor also talked about why the city has not taken possession of the old public library since the building is now empty.
She said the library board had three estimates on repairing the damage done and when the three were averaged out, they came up with a figure of $95,000. Washington said she had one estimate done which was a little over $100,000.
“That’s what I was expecting, nothing short of $100,000,” the Mayor said. “We’re going to get our three estimates done and averaged out and then go back to them with a final figure.”
On the subject of the new library at 6th Avenue and Main Street, the Mayor said the city is looking at buying the property adjacent to the building which is owned by Garland Trice. She said the property would be used to construct a green space playground and park.
Washington said an appraisal is being done on the property to determine its value before making Trice an offer.
The lien was placed to recover the costs associated with removing the old Masonic Temple whose roof caved in and caused Main Street to be blocked for an extended period of time, then cleaning up the property.
