В Мэривилле открыт новый операционный центр стоимостью 11 млн долларов

For almost four decades, Maryville City has housed most of its employees between the Municipal Building on Broadway Avenue, and in a combination office/warehouse building on Home Avenue that, truth be told, they probably outgrew halfway through. While that building isn’t going away, it is getting a much needed reprieve. Less than 18 months after breaking ground on a new operations center, city officials, employees and construction and design representatives gathered in the newly-finished Maryville Operations Center at 324 Home Ave. Dubbed Building A to avoid confusion with the old center to its rear, the new Operations Center gives city employees 22,000 square feet of new, usable space, bringing the total square footage between the two buildings to 99,000 for the more than 175 employees that keep the power going, the water flowing and the rest of the city services in line and on time. “Tommy, Fred and I have been blessed to hold our positions for quite awhile, and been honored to do so, but I have to say that’s because the folks sitting in this audience, the city employees, make our jobs a lot easier,” said Mayor Andy White. “That is not the way it is in most cities and counties, but you all really do make our jobs so much easier, so thank you.” The old operations center, now known as Building B, continues to house roughly two-thirds of the city’s employees, Assistant City Manager Kevin Stoltenberg said. After more of the workforce has moved over, the city plans to use the space primarily as storage. Design and construction costs came in around the $11 million mark, which is $3 million more than the initial estimates provided at groundbreaking but still less than the city budgeted for, Stoltenberg said. “It’s not often you get to say you finished something both under budget and ahead of schedule, but here we are, and I think it looks beautiful and will seriously help our employees do the critical tasks we ask of them,” Stoltenberg told The Daily Times.