By DONNA FARLEY
Associate Editor
The Poplar Bluff City Council will hold its first meeting at the Black River Coliseum on May 7.
Municipal court will meet at the new location the following day, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., May 8.
City manager Mark Massingham discussed these moves Monday during a city council meeting.
Some of the logistics are still being resolved, but that is the current schedule for the move, according to Massingham.
The two operations will share Room 4 at the back of the Coliseum. The meeting room has about 2,200 square feet.
Court, council meetings and advisory board meetings will utilize a separate entrance and be cordoned off from other sections of the building, Massingham has said.
Council members have said this is a temporary move while discussion continues regarding a new city building.
The council chambers and city courtroom mark the final operations to leave the Second Street complex which once served as home to the police department, city hall and city court.
It is now plagued by a badly leaking roof and plumbing problems that have shut down the majority of the restroom facilities, as well as reports of mold and other problems.
The Daily American Republic originally reported May 2, 1989, of city council members touring the old clinic building.
Officials believed at the time it would cure their space problems at a bargain price of $300,000. When council began discussions in December 1988 of the purchase, it had a listing price of $500,000.
The Second Street complex includes the original Lucy Lee Hospital, constructed in 1925, and McPheeters Clinic, which opened in 1959, as well as other additions.
City officials have discussed the need for a new building since 2013, voting at various times to move forward with construction or to purchase space without any success.
The police department moved in April 2015 to a leased building on Poplar Street. City hall operations, including city court staff, moved in the fall of 2016 to a rented building on Vine Street.
The city pays about $8,000 a month in costs to rent space for the police department, city hall and a storage facility.
Several council members have said they need time before looking at new options since an attempt to purchase Northwest Medical Center failed in February, under concerns about the condition of the building.