HOLTS SUMMIT, Mo. -- The city of Holts Summit unveiled its new 5,000-square-foot city hall to the public on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting and open reception. With the new space for city employees, the Holts Summit Police Department remains in the former city hall.
Holts Summit city employees have worked in the new city hall since July, and until that point, the police and city had operated out of the same building since 1996, said Holts Summit City Administrator Brian Crane. In 1996, he said, there were three employees at the police departments now there are 15 officers - 10 full time, four reserves and one citizen employee. The police department worked out of the old city hall basement and now it occupies the entire building.
Crane described all city employees and police working out of city hall as "tight" and "cramped."
"You had to turn sideways to get in between desks," Crane said.
Kyle McIntyre, Holts Summit police chief, said the police's administrative staff is now housed upstairs, leaving room for the police officers downstairs. He said the police department has started its own remodeling process in the building.
"(The city) outgrew the old space," McIntyre said. "This gives us room to grow."
In the new city hall, Crane, the city clerk and other administrative offices are located upstairs and the street and sewer department work downstairs. The street and sewer department has quadrupled its space, Crane said. The downstairs has a meeting area larger than where the Board of Alderman meets, but Crane said the board has decided to continue hosting meetings in the same space because it's more accessible to the public.
The new city hall was originally the Fulton Savings Bank, which was bought by Central Bank. Central Bank then sold the property to a private individual running an inventory in the area, who the city purchased the space from. Crane said the city purchased the space for a little more than $300,000 and has remodeled it, a price cheaper than building a new 3,000-square-foot facility.
Once a bank, the new city hall is equipped with two vaults that hold personal records and funds. The city of Holts Summit will also utilize the former bank's drive-through for citizens and its new Library-To-Go system through the Daniel Boone Regional Library.
Library-To-Go is new to Holts Summit. Citizens with a library card go online to www.dbrl.org to request materials - books, DVDs, and CDs. The requested items are then delivered to Holts Summit City Hall and put into lockers where the patrons s pick up the items.
The service is available 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Because the Bookmobile was very popular in Holts Summit, the city teamed up with the library for Library-To-Go.
"Holts Summit is one of the powerusers of our library," Mike Mullet, the library's IT manager said.
Hallsville, a city north of Columbia, utilizes Library-To-Go. The Hallsville Library-To-Go has seen a 25 percent increase in checkouts from January to October compared to the previous year, according to the library's public relations manager Mitzi St. John.
The new Holts Summit City Hall is located at 213 S. Summit Drive.