Jamestown City Hall has now opened in its new location in the former Monin Pharmacy building and final work is currently being completed on the city’s new home, according to Mayor Brooks Bates.

“We’re all moved in except for the police department and they should be in the next week or two,” he said.

The city purchased the building to replace the newer City Hall building, which is going to be razed, along with several others, in the coming months and replaced by the new $12.5 million Russell County Judicial Center.

The move of City Hall to the Monin building, which was constructed in 1967,  gives the city’s government around  2,500 more sq. feet to work with, according to Mike Hinton, owner of Hinton Builders, Inc. in Jamestown. Hinton and his workers did all the renovation and repair work to the new City Hall and are currently doing the finishing touches on the building.

“Mike Hinton and his help did an extremely good job here and I and the city are well pleased,” Bates said. “The move was coordinated very well.”

The mayor called the move a “trying time” for the city’s employees but that everyone made it through fine.

Bates said that City Hall was now set up for customers to pay their utility and water bills at the front desk.

The former City Hall building on Monument Square has around 5,000 sq. feet while the new City Hall has around 7,500 sq. feet, including the building’s basement, where the Jamestown Police Department will soon be located.

City workers helped to make the move late last week, according to Bates.

The city hall building on the square was closed last Friday as workers moved the remaining contents to the remodeled city hall building.

Bates cited the obtaining of more space and more parking for City Hall as a plus for the county seat.

During the renovation process, Hinton said the building was in such good shape it was not too difficult to renovate. He also said between $150,000 to $200,000 was his goal for renovating the building.

Bates said he didn’t have an exact figure as to the cost of the move just yet he gave a ballpark figure between $150,000 and $175,000.

The building has been brought up to code on electricity and the building’s heating and cooling system is good to go, saving the city around $3,500 had it needed replacing.

There are eight offices in the building’s rear for administration and engineering and the  public works departments and up front there is a counter for paying water bills and receiving citizens.

The city council chambers are directly behind that, according to Bates.

The renovation included relocating doors, moving some walls, replacing flooring with “floating” tiles and lowering some of the building’s ceiling, Hinton said earlier during the renovation process.

Also, computer and telephone networking as well as plumbing and electrical work was recently completed, Bates said.

The police department will be moved in the building’s basement in the coming week or so, according to the mayor.

Police Chief Mike Keaton said he was thrilled with the large amount of room that the police department would now have at their new location.

Keaton said the new duty office will be much larger than the former one and that the department will now have an interview/interrogation room at their disposal.

A large garage area is also located at the new location that can hold up to two police cruisers.

Bates said that while the new City Hall will not be having an official open house, there will be a date set in the coming weeks where citizens can come in and view the city’s new home.