At the May 16 regular meeting, Holiday Island city council received information from Mayor Dan Kees on a possible location of new city offices on Hwy. 23 N.
Kees said he had discussed rental space with Shane Perry, from whom the city currently rents space for a sheriff substation. Kees said that with the building inspector being present in office, and the code enforcement office also needing space, upgrading in size was required. He also said, “We want to be able to post regular office hours,” and that it would allow him to take calls without being interrupted by other meetings in the same room.
Kees said that Perry was willing to give use of the unoccupied portion of the building, where First National Bank once was, rent free for the rest of 2023. Kees said the initial cost would be $1,500 with the city taking on utility costs.
Council members asked if there would be sufficient space to hold meetings and Kees said there would be. The lobby has a meeting room that would need to have the glass panels replaced with other dividers, but that the space inside would be suited for council meetings. He also said that the city could reuse the front desks for city business, and he even posited the drive-thru could be used in the future for certain bill payments. Kees also pointed out the vault would be fireproof storage which he and Wesley Stille had been evaluating for several months.
Kees described the offer as “a heck of a deal” but that he would like to negotiate a three-year agreement to avoid rent going up quickly. He said that Perry did want to negotiate on rent costs over the next several years. In discussion council members noted that the building would be handicapped accessible and Kees said that Perry had already offered to repaint the outside of the building should the city agree to inhabit the space.
Currently, the city rents their offices from the Suburban Improvement District, and leaving would require 90-days of notice. Kees wasn’t ready for council to commit to the move and said he’d “firm up plans” including a final rent cost starting in 2024 and moving costs. He mentioned the space was not central in Holiday Island, but it was noted that many of those living in the area regularly shop at the various stores there.
Other Items
- Council discussed the include use of a mass email marketing services to help inform the public of items such as the spring trash pickup or even zoning law changes.
- Council members will investigate services to allow city ordinances to be searched on the website by keywords and to fully codify ordinances by the end of the year.
- Unanimously, council voted to allow $70,000 of the city’s $75,000 general fund reserve to be put into an account at CS Bank for 11 months at CD of 4.76 percent.
Thanks for the information.