The City Hall of Adel, erected in 1962, as pictured in the late J.J. Parrish’s book The History of Cook County Georgia and Its Municipalities.

Adel plans to build new City Hall

By Charles Shiver

The City of Adel began advertising this week for an architectural firm to help plan for building a new City Hall.

The architect chosen for the project will be looking at the strengths and weaknesses of several sites being considered for the location of a new City Hall, said City Manager John Flythe. He added that the architect will also make a recommendation on the square footage needed for the project, thus the cost.

No time frame has been set for building and occupying a new City Hall, Flythe said.

He said the City of Adel needs to plan for the future because the City offices are currently maxed out for space in the current City Hall on North Parrish Avenue. City staff are having to use off-site storage for records and the current City Hall vault is completely full, Flythe said.

He also said the plan is to have offices for all City department heads in one building for better efficiency. The new City Hall would have a Council Meeting Room around the same size as the one presently used, too. 

As far as funding the new City Hall’s construction, the City could apply for a USDA loan and pay the note off by adding the new City Hall as a future Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) project.

The Adel Mayor and Council might also consider a new location for the Fire Department station that is now located next to City Hall, due to limited space, but the Police Department headquarters would probably remain at the same location, Flythe said. The Fire Department needs new bays for vehicles, such as the new ladder truck and new pumper truck.