New Benton City Hall nears completion

BENTON, Mo. -- The city of Benton will soon have a new city hall.

Construction on a 1,600-square-foot addition to the Benton Fire Department building, on the corner of North and Winchester streets, started toward the end of August, according to Connie Barnett, Benton's city clerk. The expansion will create office space for the city clerk and city maintenance officer and a meeting area for the board of aldermen.

"We thought the best thing for us to do was build a new city hall and build it big enough for the next two or three generations," Alderman David Mack said.

The project is also resolving another issue related to city facilities. "The fire station was needing a new roof," Barnett said.

Mack said the estimated cost for roof repairs was $11,000.

Barnett estimated the final cost for both the expansion and the new roof will be about $60,000.

"We're about $20,000 under budget," Mack said.

And as there isn't any financing needed, the bottom line won't be inflated by any interest.

"It's just coming out of general revenue," Barnett said. "This is all paid for."

Until April, Benton City Hall had operated out of offices at the First Commercial Bank.

"Discussion on building a facility had actually begun in December," Barnett said. "They had told us they were going to need the space at the bank."

Mack said that while the bank had let the city use the office space for free, when the bank added some loan officers there wasn't enough room for the city to continue to do business there.

Since moving out of the bank, the city has operated out of the old city hall building on West North Street that most recently has been used by the police department, Barnett said.

Barnett said city officials are hoping they will be able to move into their new offices by Dec. 1.

The new city hall will include a drop box for after hours and a drive-up window, which Benton's elderly residents in particular will find convenient, Mack said.