MORGANTOWN, W.Va. Major renovations at Morgantown City Hall are on schedule and on budget, according to Director of Engineering and Public Works Damien Davis. On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Davis said work on the 1926 structure is valued at $2.9 million and is being done by Commercial Builders, Inc.
“It’s had several renovations over the years, but nothing in the last 30 years,” Davis said. “We did do a few projects with the facade, roof, and sidewalk out front, and those were improvements that were needed, the sidewalk was caving in.”
Employees from the Finance Department, Code Enforcement, Development Services, and the City Clerk all relocated to the Morgantown City Annex, and some employees relocated to the Morgantown Municipal Airport while work is underway.
City workers have adjusted during the project and continued to provide services from temporary offices to the public.
“It’s moving as planned so far; we’re still on schedule to be completed by the end of the year and get everybody moved back in,” Davis said. “So, it’s starting to get really exciting down there.”
The work includes new heating, ventilation, cooling, flooring, improvements to the restrooms and kitchens, and the reconfiguration of office spaces. The contractor will also replace historic windows and doors.
Through the demolition process to prepare for the new finishes and updates, Davis said workers left several artifacts behind as other renovation projects were completed.
“Old pictures tucked in some of the trim; maybe someone had it hanging on their door and it fell through; we found an old olive oil can tucked back in the old jail cells from the early 1900s; some books, and different little things,” Davis said.
According to Davis, another change will be to eliminate dead space behind the council chamber to give officials additional space to hold meetings or an executive session.
The elevator in the building will be replaced under a separate contract.
“Right now, we’re doing the windows, we’ve replaced most of the windows right now, and they’re starting to bring the scaffolding down to do some more windows,” Davis said. “So, they’ve got crews all over the building right now doing all sorts of stuff.”
The project is funded with a portion of the $7 million in construction bonds approved last year between the city and the Morgantown Building Commission. The bonds are with Community Bank on a 15-year term with a fixed interest rate of 2.61 percent.