JACKSON BUYS BANK BUILDING FOR OFFICE USE

JACKSON -- A Jackson official says it probably will be at least one-and-a-half years before Jackson's municipal offices are moved into the former Jackson Exchange Bank building at West Main and Court streets.

The city announced this week it is purchasing the two-story bank building from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for $625,000. The building was appraised by the FDIC at more than $1.1 million.

The FDIC acquired the building when the now-defunct Exchange Bank Corp., ran into financial difficulty and closed.

City Administrator Carl Talley said a signed contract with the FDIC was returned March 19. He said the Board of Aldermen will meet Monday to formally ratify the contract.

"The tentative closing date is set for April 2," said Talley. "At that point we will own the building."

Ward 2 Alderman Kevin Sawyer was surprised at how fast the sale of the building took place. Sawyer said the board first discussed purchasing the bank building as soon as a "for sale" sign went up last year.

"We've been hurting for office space for city offices for quite a while, but we wanted to wait and see what happened between Boatmen's and the FDIC," Sawyer said. "About three-and-one-half weeks ago we decided to make an offer to the FDIC.

"We figured it would take more time than it did for them to consider our offer. But two weeks after we made it they agreed.

Apparently the city did not inform Boatmen's Bank of the sale prior to announcing it. Boatmen's, which occupies the building under a lease, was still negotiating last week with the FDIC to purchase the building, said James Limbaugh, president of Boatmen's Bank of Cape Girardeau.

Limbaugh said the bank found out about the sale when it was contacted by the news media. "The actual sale of the building to the city was news to us," Limbaugh said.

Despite the sale, Limbaugh said Boatmen's will stay in Jackson. He said the bank will construct a new main bank in Jackson. The bank recently constructed a drive-in facility on East Jackson Boulevard.

"We will maintain our promise to Jackson to operate two banking facilities in Jackson, Limbaugh said. "We are going to build a new main banking facility, but construction plans and the actual location of the new building are obviously incomplete at this time because of the short notice we received of the sale of the building we're in now.

"We feel confident that we can work out a short-term lease with the buyer, which will give us adequate time to plan and construct the new facility."

Talley said much planning and coordination are needed before city offices are actually moved from its offices in the basement of the Jackson Public Library. "The first thing we'll have to do is meet with Boatmen's Bank to determine when they'll be able to move out of the building," he explained.

Said Sawyer: "We're in no rush to move in. We want to work with Boatmen's so they can move when they're ready."

Sawyer said the board has discussed hiring an architect to prepare floor plans for the most efficient use of the building.

"We've got to do a lot of planning, preparation and coordination for this move," he said. "We do not want to cause any major interruption in services to the citizens of Jackson or to the operation of the city offices.

"We'll have to plan for switching over our computer system that's now in place in the basement of the library building. All of this is time-consuming and has to be planned well and far enough in advance to make sure it's done correctly."

Sawyer said the city got a real bargain on the building.

"First, we were able to purchase the building at a price far below its appraised value," he said. Second, we'll be able to consolidate all of our city offices into a single location, and that will make it more convenient for anyone that has business with the city. In addition, there is a lot more parking space behind the building. Also, by keeping city hall in the same area, it will keep people coming in to uptown Jackson."

Talley said plans are to move the municipal utilities department in with the rest of the city offices in the new building, including the city administrator's office, city clerk, city collector, city engineer, building inspector, and computer center offices.

The present library-city hall complex was constructed in 1960. The city occupies the entire basement floor; the library the top floor.

Sawyer said it has not been determined whether to move the library in with the city offices or keep it in the present building, which would allow it to expand to the bottom floor.

"There are just a whole of things that will have to be decided on in the next year or so," he said. "But we're in no hurry; we've been in our present city hall for about 33 years, so we can wait another year, or so before moving to our new city building."