PAYNESVILLE -- The Paynesville City Hall is expected to undergo a bit of an internal makeover, Mayor Jeff Thompson said, as the City Council awarded quotes Wednesday for the building's $70,000 remodel and upgrading.
Thompson said the City Hall's facelift will include new cubicles, phone system, cabling, paint and carpeting. He said the phone system was almost 30 years old, and the City Hall would be reorganized to be "a little more customer-friendly and a little more efficient" for city staff.
"Fresh paint, new carpet, that sort of thing," Thompson said in a Thursday phone interview. "Moving cubicles around and changing work spaces ... nothing real important, but some of the things we had to do in there."
When all the small upgrades of the project were added up, Thompson said, the total was around $70,000; therefore the city didn't have to go through the formal bidding process for the project.
The city hopes to have all the modifications completed by Feb. 1, Thompson said, because the city is also going to be installing a new accounting software system for the city's finances. Thompson said the city hopes to have all the cabling ready so that the staff can focus on learning the new system and transferring information from the old system without any distractions.
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In addition to the City Hall upgrades, the city also approved advertising for bids in January for the 2008 street project, Thompson said. The city expects to award the construction bids in February.
"We're just continuing to march through the process and jumping through all the hoops for that," Thompson said.
Thompson said the majority of the project is located in the south and southwest portions of the city limits. Thompson said the city "tries to scatter" street projects around so that the work does not make any one neighborhood completely inaccessible to its inhabitants.
On a final note, the city opened bidding Wednesday on some surplus property of the Fire Department. Thompson said the surplus is a 1966 tanker for the department and he isn't sure "if it is going to generate much interest or money." He said the city legally has to declare it surplus and put it out for field bids.
