There is a lot of conversation around town this week concerning the future of Swainsboro City Hall, or more precisely, the future of the building that houses City Hall. It appears that Mayor and city council may soon decide about buying another building and moving out of the current City Hall. To paraphrase a line from Shakespeare, the issue is “to move, or not to move”. Should we move city hall out of its present building that has been its home for over 50 years and move it into a vacant bank building down the street, or should City Hall remain at the historical center of town at the only intersection in the United States of two major federal highways that span the country? That is the question. For 16 years, I spent a good deal of time in that city hall building. During those years, we replaced the entire roofing system, replaced all outdated windows on the first and second floor with new energy-efficient windows, renovated the lobby area and the offices, installed updated lighting, renovated the first-floor conference room, renovated the second-floor bathrooms, renovated the lobby area, offices, and main conference room on the second floor. The great majority of this work was done with private funds and grant money. This stately building is one of the most structurally sound constructions in this city. It is also the most architecturally impressive building in the entire downtown area. Built in 1908, it is rich in heritage and signifies the strength and permanence of this community. From my experience, there has never been a time when this building did not fully and effectively provide the needed services for the citizens of Swainsboro. It is very capable of continuing that service for many years to come. It will also continue to play a vital role in the health and vitality of the downtown business community as it has always done. Every day, a steady stream of people come to city hall to conduct city business. Neighboring businesses benefit from that stream of people and rely on the economic activity they bring. At its central location, City Hall is the anchor for downtown. Its tall second-floor windows overlook the nine downtown city blocks and provide a protective and watchful presence. To uproot it all and move out would be a major step backwards in our effort to continue downtown development. Such an action would also signify a careless disregard for tradition and a lack of respect for the achievements of our past. That would be a terrible mistake to make. These reasons alone are enough to decide the question, but the biggest mistake of all would be to place a financial burden of more than $700,000.00 upon the taxpayers by buying another building when the need to do so has simply not been shown. For all these reasons, I encourage the members of city government to thoughtfully resist any plan that would move City Hall from its present spot. Please do not squander the unique quality and irreplaceable value of the current Swainsboro City Hall building located at the center of Swainsboro, Georgia. It is too important in our history, our everyday life, and in the future of this town to make the wrong move.
