Rogers Officials Mull Use For Former City Hall
STAFF PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF During a walk-through of the former Rogers City Hall, Greg Hines, left, Rogers mayor, tells a resident Wednesday county and state offices have moved from the building at Third and Poplar streets to a building at 15th and Walnut streets. Hines toured the old city hall with David Hook, city facility management director, to discuss uses for the building. Hines brought his dog, Birdie, along on the tour.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
ROGERS — How to best use a building at Third and Poplar streets most recently used for county government satellite offices was the question before officials touring the building Wednesday.
The building has been a county annex for seven years. The city leased the building to the county for $1 per year. County officials purchased a building last year and moved into the facility earlier this month.
AT A GLANCE
Building History
The former city hall at Third and Poplar streets has a history spanning several decades.
• The building was a Masonic Lodge, where the DeMolay held dances, before the city bought the building for a City Hall about 1985.
• City offices moved into the current City Hall at 301 W. Chestnut St. in 2006.
• Benton County leased the space from the city in 2007 as a courthouse annex and remained until March. County officials cited the lack of parking space as a reason for the move. County officials bought the former USA Drug building at 15th and Walnut streets and moved the annex there.
Source: Staff Report
The city has some options regarding how the building is used, said Mayor Greg Hines, including use as storage by the Rogers Historical Museum and Main Street Rogers, Hines said.
The former city hall building has been renovated more than once, and is chopped up, said David Hook, the city's facility development manager.
"We will probably have to move a couple of walls and make some other changes, but I don't see any real problems. I haven't had the opportunity to get on the roof and check for leaks, but it appears the building is in good shape. I don't think it will cost too much to make the changes we need," Hook said.
Hines said he isn't interested in putting a lot of money into the building, but said he had no problem with Hook's suggestions.
John Burroughs, museum director, said the museum is running out of storage room for its collections.
"People continue to donate collections to us, which we appreciate," he said. "We will be completely out of (storage) room in two years or less."
The museum staff also is crowded, Burroughs said.
"We are sharing offices. Nobody has an office by themselves. We could use some additional office space at the former city hall," Burroughs said.
Three attempts were made Wednesday to contact Dana Mather, interim director of Main Street Rogers, regarding the possibility of storage space being made available for the organization. Mather didn't return phone calls before 5 p.m.
Gateway Planning, the company the city hired to do a downtown economic development plan, has requested space be made available in the building, Hines said.
"They want a public place where they can display the various plans and other documents regarding the initiative so residents can stay abreast of the plan as it develops," Hines said.
Gateway also could use some of the space for interviews and host focus groups, Hines said.
Two calls were made to Scott Polikov, Gateway Planning president, requesting comment. He didn't return the calls before 5 p.m.
NW News on 03/20/2014