Paducah City Commissioners are considering a different approach to renovating their deteriorating City Hall.
The group, Paducah-McCracken Growth Inc. invited Engineer James Mason to analyze the building and present his work to the commission. Mason’s findings suggest reinforcing the sagging canopy with steel and installing base isolators to seismically strengthen the building. Mason’s suggestions could cost around 3.3 million dollars. That’s about 800-thousand dollars cheaper than a previous estimate. This estimate does not include other mechanical and interior renovations.
“There’s a lot of history in this building,” Commissioner Richard Abraham stated in a news release. “If we can make it more functional without tearing it down, now’s the time to look at that.”
Mason says the technologies he proposed would not change the exterior of the building or require the building be vacated during work. Commissioners are looking for new cost estimates including Mason’s proposals.
“This, I think, is something that we can consider,” Mayor Gayle Kaler said.
The city is also looking into estimates for the construction of a new City hall.
*On air, it was inaccurately reported that the city would move ahead with plans to build a new city hall despite Mason's report that there were alternative methods for renovating the existing building.
