Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton has received approval from city council to spend $250,000 to address safety issues on the front of city hall. City officials still need to decide whether or not to take on bigger exterior issues on the 12-story government center.
The money will go toward rebuilding the entrance to the 100 year old structure. Mayor Gorton has said it’s critical to address safety concerns in a timely manner. An architectural consultant suggested last week just over $5 million would be needed to adequately refurbish the outside of the building.
Vice Mayor Steve Kay said a decision on the additional repairs is still pending. “The larger question of whether the council is going to support either short, or medium term, or long term spending five million dollars on the envelope is a question I think will take a little more time to sort out,” said Kay.
Council Member Susan Lamb wants to know more about how those upgrades would affect the value of the city hall property. “I would love to know if you put $5.1 million into the envelope of this building what does that do for this building, if we ever did sell it or if we chose not to, what does that look like? Asked Lamb.
Council has another meeting scheduled in early October to further discuss the future of city hall. That includes consideration to build a new city hall.
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