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PrintWith the snap of an oversized pair of scissors, Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman led the dedication and grand opening of the city hall expansion project Wednesday evening at the corner of Eighth Street and Broadway.
The controversial decision to commence the expansion project was made in 2007. Mayor Hindman said a proposal to build a new city hall was submitted to — and rejected by — the voters twice before it was finally approved. The restoration of the Daniel Boone Building, the former home of city government, will be completed by the end of this year.
A $22 million budget has provided Columbia with a new, singular home for city government. While officials were previously working at various locations across the city, the expansion will give Columbia residents a one-stop shop for all their local government needs.
The new city hall was designed to receive a gold rating from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System. Some of the building’s environmentally friendly features include woven grass wallpaper, paints with low volatile chemical levels, cork floors and concrete countertops that utilize recycled beer bottles.
If city hall is granted a gold LEED rating, it will be Columbia’s fourth city building to attain such a rating.
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Please note, the City Hall building issue was submitted to voters twice, and it failed. In 2007, the City Council authorized City administration to proceed with the project, using an internal financing plan that did not require a tax increase. At this time, the City does not have any Gold-rated structures. We have three "Certified" structures and are awaiting the Green Building Council's notice on the City Hall addition.
Toni Messina, City of Columbia