Monett City Annex repurposed, unveiled for public meetings

Former Community Center converted, remodeled, will relieve congestion issues for well-attended municipal gatherings
 
The Monett city government has opened its new City Annex building, located inside the former Monett Community Center at 100 South Maple St., west of the AutoZone store off County Road, where the first city council meeting was held on Jan. 8.
Mayor Randy Burke, in leading tours, explained that the structure, built in the 1970s, has been unoccupied for some time. In the past, it served initially as the Barry-Lawrence Ambulance District base, and more recently, had been occupied by the Missouri Career Center and a therapy center for a private service.
The building had been renovated several times over the years. When City Administrator Mickey Ary looked at it last year, Burke said he found “mold of all kinds. [Ary] figured we could repurpose it or tear it down.”
Burke praised Ary for seeing how the building could return to service and executing the vision.
Rather than use it for offices, relieving space cramping at City Hall, Burke saw it as a way to relieve congestion for city meetings. The city council has been using the council chambers, now referred to as a conference room, in the southeast corner of City Hall, which began being used in 1988. Under the Burke administration, the council began meeting in the recently renovated school district administration building in what had been called the White Building of the middle school campus, before the middle school moved to the high school/Scott Tech campus.

Burke further noted that the overflow crowd at the October meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission at City Hall further prompted moving its meetings to the school administration building. Now, city meetings of all kinds will be held in the Annex, generally on Thursdays. Meetings that seem likely to attract more than 50 people will probably move to the City Park Casino.
The Annex has its entrance off the parking lot on Maple Street. Burke noted that if that fills with vehicles, people can park at the adjacent Monett Community Building to the west, another city facility built to provide a FEMA-approved storm shelter for the Marshall Hill neighborhood. Both buildings have ramp entrances for handicapped accessibility. Restrooms in the Annex, one of the few rooms not renovated, have lower toilets for handicapped use.

Building reconfiguration tackled
When the Missouri Career Center opened there in June 2012, the Annex building was an open room with offices around the perimeter. Now the building has an entry that opens onto a lobby with a north-south hallway. The wall facing the entrance opens to several side rooms. On the wall hangs the City Vision Statement, newly displayed, drafted by Steve Arndt for the city’s 2023 Strategic Plan. It reads: “To be a safe, progressive, vibrant, thriving destination Community for all generations and backgrounds. A place to put down roots.” Burke said he will make reference to this vision statement in remarks he will give in his State of the City address on Jan. 29 at the Casino.
The TV on the south wall of the lobby will serve as a rotating digital sign.
The rooms near the entrance hold a conference room comparable to the current one at city hall where work sessions have been held, arranged with chairs around a central table, a training room across the hall for smaller gatherings adjacent to a breakroom, and, at the south end of the hallway, another training room and a media room for photo opportunities with a backdrop for publicity shots.
A hallway on the left side of the wall leads to the council chambers. This room takes up all the space originally used by the ambulance district, converted to a wide room with a table across the front, which has seven chairs facing the room for council members. Two video screens face the audience, one in each corner, for displays of visuals. Another screen is located on the back wall for council members to view.
Facing the front table is a smaller table for key city staff, such as the clerk and city administrator. Behind them were arranged 36 chairs for the audience. According to Mike Gervais, city communications specialist, there’s room to bump that number up about another half dozen for well-attended sessions.
Ary said the city relied on Steve Garner, operations director for the school district, for vendors in furnishing the facility. Multiple bidders submitted proposals for furniture, ensuring competitive pricing. A very similar color scheme to the school district’s meeting hall was used. The light gray walls offered something “perfectly neutral,” Burke said. Darker blue carpet squares were used on the floor, covering old stains. Taller flagpoles for the national and state flags were placed on the north wall, giving the flags more stature than at City Hall.
Ary added the building’s roof, though flat, was reviewed and found to be solid to avoid future water issues. Lights were upgraded to LEDs, making all the rooms brighter than before the remodel.
Another room, cross the hallway in the southwest corner of the building, will serve as a separate location for closed sessions after open meetings. Ary explained that other councils choose to move for private conclaves, enabling the audience to stay in the main room, rather than evicting the public. “You’re supposed to leave the room,” he said. “It’s part of transparency.”
Burke added the building will not have regular occupants. On Thursdays, staff may look for who has the keys for that day’s meetings. Plans call for having both city council work sessions and full voting sessions all in the Annex, along with whatever other meetings are needed. Conference rooms, like the one at the Utility Warehouse, will still be used.
There are no plans for an outdoor sign by the road. A sign identifying the building has been mounted on the east wall in brackets that probably date back to the Missouri Career Center. The flagpole outside flies the US, Missouri, and Monett flags, the latter bearing the city’s new logo.