A message from the mayor

February is off to a rousing start for the city.

Now that we’ve closed on the property for the City Hall site, our architect firm, Williams Blackstock, is moving forward with the design work. For their part, B.L. Harbert is putting bid packages together to get the process going. We are hoping to start construction around the first part of May and will hopefully be ready to move in by July 2015. If all goes as expected, the public can expect to see an update on design plans by mid-February.

In related news, the city has purchased the property next door to the Library in the Forest. The site, formerly a private residence, will be used by the city to add an additional 46 parking spaces for library employees, patrons and other guests. Walter Schoel Engineering Co. is doing the design work. We expect the bid process to be underway shortly, and will share a project timeline once that has been established.

The one thing I want to stress is this will not eliminate all the parking problems we have, especially with big events. We will continue to offer shuttle service with overflow parking from the Board of Education, Chamber of Commerce and Exchange Field lots. Residents are strongly discouraged from parking on Round Hill Road.

In other news, if you are interested in serving your community, we will soon be upon a time of year when we are accepting applications for board appointments.

Three major boards in our community are the school board, the parks and recreation board and the library board. While the process for parks and recreation board and library board both start in October, the school board starts in March. Interested citizens are encouraged  check our website, vhal.org, for information on how to apply.

Additional boards include: planning and zoning; board, zoning and adjustments; and design review. These board memberships are appointed by the mayor. If you have any interest in being on those boards, please email or send a letter to the mayor’s office.