City leaders say Cape Girardeau may need a new city hall

Cape Girardeau City Hall shows its age, with its lack of an elevator and its worn-out heating and cooling system.

City officials estimate it would cost more than $1 million to add an elevator and renovate or replace the heating and cooling system.

They say it might be more prudent to build a new city hall rather than spend a lot of money fixing up the existing structure.

Mayor Harry Rediger believes Cape Girardeau needs a new city hall.

“It is my opinion that the building does not portray the image of a growing city,” Rediger said, adding he would prefer construction of a new city hall somewhere in downtown.

A look at the Cape Girardeau City Hall on Thursday, which once was Lorimier School.Glenn Landberg

City offices are crammed into the 78-year-old, two-story brick building on Independence Street.

But Rediger and city manager Scott Meyer said space is not the issue.

The major question is whether to invest in a major upgrade to the former elementary school or seek a new home for city government, they said.

Looking to the future

The mayor said “it doesn’t make sense” to spend a lot of money on the current structure.

A look Thursday at the Cape Girardeau City Hall, built in 1937 as an elementary school.Glenn Landberg

As he sees it, the city will have to build a new city hall or relocate and renovate an existing building. But there is no timetable to address the issue.

“We don’t have a plan at this point,” he said. “We definitely don’t have the money.”

The city also has no money in the budget to install an elevator, estimated to cost $220,000, or renovate/replace the heating and cooling system, which is estimated to cost about $900,000.

The heating and cooling system is antiquated, and obtaining replacement parts has become difficult, according to the city’s capital improvements plan.

“There is no heating or cooling in the halls,” Meyer said, adding the system is “at or near the end of its service life.”

In a letter accompanying the capital improvements plan submitted to the council earlier this year, Meyer, deputy city manager Molly Hood and finance director John Richbourg wrote, “identifying a solution to the issues at city hall should be paramount in the near future.”

Handicapped accessibility is an issue at city hall. Some offices are on the second floor and in the basement.

For mobility-challenged people, getting to those offices is difficult.

City staff handle the situation by holding meetings in a first-floor conference room when necessary.

Meyer said the city, however, doesn’t have to install an elevator to meet federal disability requirements unless major renovations are made to the building.

Ward 4 Councilwoman Loretta Schneider is not a fan of the current city hall.

“I spoke to the city staff about this eight years ago,” she said. “I just thought city hall was so uninviting. When you come in, all you see are closed doors.

“I just think you want to have a place where people will come and really feel comfortable,” she said.

At one time, there wasn’t even a restroom for women on the main floor of city hall, she said.

The City Council chambers are housed in what was once a gymnasium.

“The acoustics are terrible,” Schneider said.

City officials talked about building an addition to city hall with a drive-through window to make it easier for residents to pay utility bills, but that idea was dropped, she said.

Meyer said the idea of adding onto city hall has not been discussed since he became city manager in 2009.

But Meyer said some type of addition might be an option to consider, along with relocating to a new site.

Meyer said the city government has made major infrastructure improvements in recent years.

The city has built a new wastewater treatment plant and is finishing a new trash-transfer station.

Plans are proceeding to build a new police station and a new fire station.

City hall is the one municipal facility that still needs to be addressed, he said.

When the police department moves into a new police station, slated to be built at Arena Park, city officials will have to decide what to do with the current station on Sprigg Street.

Meyer and Rediger said city staff will look at whether the police station could be renovated for use as city hall. But Meyer said parking at the police station is not ideal for use as a city hall.

The city manager said all options will be explored about future use of the police station.

Schneider said city officials at one time considered returning city hall to the Common Pleas Courthouse that overlooks downtown.

Cape Girardeau County government offices are scheduled to be moved out of the Common Pleas Courthouse once a new, county-government building is constructed in Jackson.

But Schneider said it doesn’t seem feasible to return to the historic courthouse now. She said it would be costly to fix up the building.

“It would take a tremendous amount of renovation,” she said.

Cape Girardeau city government was housed in the Common Pleas Courthouse from 1854, when the building opened, until 1978, when it moved into the old Lorimier School at 401 Independence St.

City officials at that time said the former school provided much more space for city offices.

‘Modern Architecture’

The city-hall building opened as an elementary school in September 1937.

It replaced a previous school by the same name on the site, which dated to 1871.

The building was named after Cape Girardeau’s founder, Louis Lorimier.

After the school district vacated the original building in 1928, it became home to squatters before it was torn down.

The current Lorimier School was billed as a “model of modern architecture,” according to an article in the Southeast Missourian.

The newspaper reported the “fireproof building should stand for years, from its appearance. The floors are virtually all covered with terrazzo, and the marble serves to give the structure a distinctive look.”

Ornamental fairy-tale tiles, still visible today, decorated the backs of drinking fountains.

In 1975, the school board voted to close the elementary school, citing declining enrollment.

The city bought the building with the thought of making it the public library. But the library board in 1976 turned down the offer, preferring to look at financing construction of a new library.

As a result, the city council elected to convert the school into a city hall. After renovations, city staff moved into the building in September 1978.

“This is what can be done with older, serviceable buildings in the community,” the Southeast Missourian quoted then-city manager W.G. Lawley as saying. “This is the kind of project that administrators get a glow about. It just makes you feel good.”

But after nearly four decades of use as Cape Girardeau’s city hall, its days may be numbered.

Still, Rediger said he hopes the structure could be saved and repurposed by someone.

“I would like to see it preserved,” he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.