Mayor Mike Aspacher holds the ceremonial scissors. Also taking part were Mary Margaret Boda, from left, and Tommy Wiggins, both with Mosser Construction; Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter; and Joe Fawcett, former assistant municipal administrator for the city.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Bowling Green’s City Administrative Services Building, putting the final bow on the project.
The groundwork was laid by former Mayors John Quinn and Dick Edwards, said city Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter
Councilman William Herald said he served on the ad hoc committee developed by Quinn to start exploring a new facility.
Herald, who has served on city council for parts of four decades, said he spent a lot of time in the old building, where some offices were slightly larger than a closet.
“They made do with what they could, but it was time,” he said.
The $14.5 million Administrative Services Building was built on the site of the former Wood County Senior Center, previously the Bowling Green post office. The 1914 façade of the post office was preserved and incorporate into the front of the building.
The two-story building is designed around a central lobby space that connects to council chambers, which will be located within an area enclosed partially by the stone facade.
Off of the lobby are a series of office suites for major departments such as utilities, the tax office, engineering, public works and planning. On the second floor is the mayor’s office and administrative offices, as well as human resources, finance, IT and other departments.
Tretter said she had worked in the former city building since 1997 and it was satisfying to have the opportunity to move into the new building.
Retired BG Municipal Administrator Colleen Smith said the new building “was marvelous.”
“It’s too bad we didn’t do it many years ago, but I give this staff and this council a lot of credit,” she said. “It will be here forever.”
She spent 30 years in the former city building, “and I loved every minute of it.”
The city had used the former city building, which was built in 1903, since 1976.
It started as a school before being condemned, then had a life as a library before being condemned again, said Mayor Mike Aspacher.
He said he would not miss the building, which was located behind the new facility and has since been demolished.
“Throughout our process of assessing the needs for a new building, we also considered the condition of the old senior center and the old city administration building,” he said.
It was determined the building had surpassed its useful life.
“The city got its money’s worth out of that building,” he said.
Aspacher said when the city broke ground for the new building, there were grand expectations “but it would have been difficult for any of us to really grasp what the final product would be.”
He said the building, under any metric of measure, has to be considered a tremendous success.
The facility, located at 305 N. Main St., is the result of a very long community conversation about the need to build a modern building that would serve residents and employees for decades, Aspacher said.
Scott Schroeder, area manager at Kleinfelder Group Inc., and Brian Gette, CEO of Mosser Construction, also spoke at Thursday’s ribbon cutting.
“What a great project for the city and the community,” Schroeder said. Kleinfelder was the design team on the project.
The facility honors the city’s history by keeping the façade of the old post office, while incorporating a lot of sustainable principles, he said.
“It just fits in with the neighborhood,” Schroeder said. “It’s set up to serve you well for many, many decades to come.”
“This truly is a transformative project,” Gette said, and added construction is a team sport.
