Forward Bank

Stanley will have a new City Hall next year. The Stanley City Council voted 6-1 this week to buy the Forward Financial Bank building, 353 S. Broadway St., for the asking price of $350,000, said City Clerk Ketty Clow. “They are going to budget it in 2018,” Clow said. “The earliest we can move in there is June 2017.”

Under the agreement between the council and the bank, the city will pay all taxes and utilities for the time occupied in the building at the end of 2017, then the city will begin making payments in 2018, she said.

Forward Financial Bank recently acquired the Dairyland State Bank branch in town; the two buildings are a block apart, and they don’t need to retain both sites, so they offered to sell either one to the city. The Dairyland site was larger, but the Forward Financial Bank site was newer and had partitions inside, making it a more ideal setup for dividing into city administration offices and the police headquarters. Council members agreed it would be easier to move into and open immediately with fewer renovations.

Clow was upbeat about the council’s vote and the decision to go with the newer building. “Either building for the clerk’s office will be adequate,” Clow said. “It’s exciting to go into a newer building.” Stanley Councilman Norman Christianson was pleased the council decided to act now. “We needed to do something, and we had to move quickly,” Christianson said. “If we didn’t take it, they would probably have sold it to someone else.”

The council had studied the cost of a new building, with estimates showing it would have been perhaps $1.2 million. If the city’s library had been added, a new building could have reached $2 million. “We just don’t have the money for that,” Christianson said.

It is unclear how much money the council will need to set aside for renovations to the building. Christianson said it will need a garage for police squads, and it will need modern security features for both the police and city administration. The current City Hall was built in the early 1900s and doesn’t meet wheelchair accessibility compliance laws. The council holds its meetings at the fire station because there isn’t adequate space or accessibility at City Hall. The council considered five buildings in the city, toured three, and ultimately chose between the two banks.

Mayor Mike Henke, who is Forward Financial Bank vice president, sat out of the discussions.

(Article Courtesy of Leader-Telegram)