Planning document envisions new Cape city hall with safe room

A new Cape Girardeau City Hall could be on the drawing board within the next several years.

The proposed $11.25 million project, which could include a safe room that would double as City Council chambers, is listed on the latest draft of the city’s five-year plan of capital improvement projects.

The council is expected to review the updated planning document later this month.

The document identifies funded and unfunded projects, extending from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2022.

The city-hall project is new to the list, as is the estimated cost.

But Mayor Harry Rediger said Wednesday city officials have made no decision about the future of the existing city hall.

“No decision has been made to leave city hall,” he said.

Built in 1937 as an elementary school, the brick building on Independence Street has served as city hall since September 1978.

City officials have said the heating and cooling system needs to be replaced.

The building also lacks an elevator. Adding one and upgrading the heating and cooling system could cost more than $1 million, according to city estimates.

Rediger said in February the building does not portray the image of a growing city. He said at the time he would prefer building a new city hall.

The draft of the capital-improvements plan proposes construction of “a multi-use facility.” In addition to a safe room that would serve as a large meeting room, the facility could provide space for storage of government records, according to the planning document.

No funding is in place for such a project, but the plan identifies possible funding sources.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency provides 75 percent of the funding for qualified, community safe rooms designed to withstand tornadoes. FEMA provided funding for a safe room in Jackson’s new civic center.

FEMA funding is listed as a potential funding source for the Cape Girardeau City Hall project, along with grant money for an archives center and city tax dollars.

Rediger said city officials also would have to look at selling the existing city hall and the soon-to-be-vacated police station as possible funding sources.

“We have no revenue stream right now,” he said.

Deputy city manager Molly Hood said while this project is new to the plan, city staff has discussed the issue for years.

“City hall has always been an unfunded need,” she said.

FEMA funding is just one possible funding source to help pay for such a building project, Hood said.

“We are continuing to look at alternatives,” she added.

Planning for the project could cost $2.25 million, according to the city document. Construction work would cost an estimated $9 million.

Rediger estimated it could take up to eight years for the project to come to fruition.

The mayor said he and other council members don’t want to make major renovations to the current city hall when the possibility of a new structure has yet to be decided.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.