The Salem City Council has agreed to move forward on nearly $100,000 in electrical work to the rear of Salem City Hall.
City Manager Annette Sola says TOP Electric has been working with Ameren to correct the current electrical configuration and estimates it will take $97,800 to complete the work. She reports right now several of the neighboring buildings have electrical lines that are run into an electrical box in the kitchen area.
“What we’re finding is that is part of the reason why some of the work on the back of the building has not been done and really can’t be done,” Sola said. “To move the air conditioning units off of the building to properly get up there and seal up some of the windows, all of those wires have to come down before that can happen. Even with the new roof that we put on after we did all of that work back there, during the last heavy rain we still had water in the kitchen again, and that water was coming down through that boot that goes to our electrical panel, which obviously is not safe.”
Sola anticipates the work will take four months to complete with city hall being able to remain open throughout the process.
The city of Salem will have a company that has helped plan needed improvements to the city hall building review the condition of the building next to city hall at 109 South Broadway. Retiring attorney Mike Jones has offered to give the building to the city at no charge. He wants an answer by the end of January. Jones will put the building on the market if the city doesn’t want it. Mayor Nic Farley said he feels there are several potential uses of the building for the city.
The council approved language changes in the ordinance governing separation of employees so everyone is treated the same.
