Refurbished City Hall on tap for 2012 [Picayune Item, Miss.]

Dec. 28--PICAYUNE -- When you drive by the old City Hall on Goodyear Boulevard, take one last look at its A.L. Franklin Annex. It will be gone shortly, when workcrews from Hattiesburg's Mac's Construction Co. begin work on an approximately $1.8 million project to refurbish the complex, one of the most historic sites and structures in Picayune.

The company on Dec. 20 was awarded the bid to tear down the annex and replace it with a 9,500 sq. ft. structure that will be architectrally compatible with the historic old structure. The company will also refurbish the inside of the old City Hall.

The site and old City Hall has been the seat of government here, and a symbol of the city, since Picayune was incorporated in September 1904. A small brick building was first constructed there as the first City Hall in 1904, and then in 1938-39 what is known as the old City Hall on Goodyear, modeled after an English Manor house in Bournemouth, England, was constructed. It was designed by famous architect Wilfred S. Lockyer, a native of Bournemouth.

Several years ago a former administration bought the old Arizona Chemical, once Crosby Chemical, buildings and plant site, but as the Great Recession clamped down on city revenues, the new board, which was elected in 2009, began looking for a less expensive way of housing city services and employees.

The 30,000-square-foot main City Hall on Beech Street, which was way too big for the city, generated a heating and cooling bill alone of $75,000 annually, said Picayune Mayor Ed Pinero, Jr. And there was maintenance and upkeep, too.

City officials then began looking back to the old City Hall on Goodyear as a way to save money.

In a year-end interview, Pinero pointed to that project and move as one of the accomplishments in 2011 -- selling the current City Hall on Beech Street and its adjacent 200 acres to Huey Stockstill, Inc., and moving back into the historic old City Hall on Goodyear.

Lockyer, who designed the old City Hall on Goodyear, designed interior portions of the ill-fated White Star Line passenger ship, The Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, drowning 1,800 passengers.

When the old City Hall is refurbished, it will be an impressive site to first-time visitors to Picayune as they turn down Goodyear Boulevard and head west past City Hall and First Baptist Church. The massive First Baptist sanctuary in the background frames the historic City Hall.

Pinero and the City Council told the architect on the project, Kevin P. Lewis of Landry and Lewis of Hattiesburg, to bring the project designs as close as possible to a $2 million projected budget. The actual bid on it by Mac's was $1.8 million. Pinero in early November told the council that he did not want to have to raise taxes to pay for the project. The city plans to pay for it with proceeds from the sale of the Beech Street city complex and revenues from insurance settlements.

The bids recently received came in under the projected costs, and the council approved the project on Dec. 20.

Pinero said construction on the project will begin in January, stretch mostly through 2012, and by the end of next year, the facility should be ready to be occupied.

Mac's will tear down the old flat-roofed annex, which is constructed in a 1950s modernist style and never did match the architecture of the old City Hall, which is classic English Georgian from the 1700s.

In the interview, Pinero pointed not only to the new City Hall project, but also said that he and the council were proud of the repaving project. "I have had people come up to me and tell me that their road was repaved for the first time in years since it was originally paved. We will have paved 70 miles of roads in Picayune under this project," said Pinero.

The council moved to pave the streets all in one multi-million dollar project after trying to make the repaving project a piecemeal operation. Pinero at one point said that was not working and proposed the massive repaving project, which he says should be completed in the first quarter of 2012. The project did, however, take an additional tax levy on city residents, but few complained since city streets were in such bad condition, and there was no doubt that years of neglect had to be addressed.

Pinero says the No. 1 issue and priority city officials face is spending. "We look at the budget monthly, sometimes daily, and we watch the city sales tax returns like a hawk; it rises and falls, and we have to adjust the budget proportionately," said Pinero.

Pinero and city financial planners projected city sales taxes to run an estimated $330,000 monthly. "We had a good Christmas sales period, I gathered, from talking to merchants, and we are hoping that our projections will hold, and maybe be exceeded some," said Pinero. Over half the city budget is funded through tax sales rebates from the state.

Pinero also pointed to a 15 percent reduction in the price the city is charging its gas customers. "We looked at that real closely, and implemented a reduction in what we charge before winter set in," he said.

Pinero also pointed to the new Applebee's under construction at the corner of Bales Avenue and Memorial Boulevard and said that the city has received "feelers" from other major chains about possibly locating here.

He said city and county officials are also looking at attracting medium-sized business and manufacturing firms to the county. "We are in a great location here, and have a lot to offer small and mid-size firms," said Pinero, who besides being mayor of Picayune, runs the county planning and development offices.

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