A night photo of City Hall taken by Randall Peek that is one of the art displays at City Hall
ATHENS-When Judge James Horton moved the family home from Athens to Greenbrier in 1939, after his part in the Scottsboro Boys case ended and his lost bid for re-election, the family gave their downtown property to the City of Athens.
The new Athens City Hall now resides where the Maclin-Hobbs-Horton home once stood. The public is invited to an open house to see the facilities on Sunday, July 17, from 2-4 p.m. There will be light refreshments, and the public can tour the building.
The building showcases office furniture provided by Steelcase, which operates its largest facility in Athens. The Athens plant employs about 1,100 workers.
Also included in Athens City Hall is a new program called One Stop Shop, where those who want to locate a new business or expand a business can more easily navigate the process with assistance from a point of contact, Amy Golden.
“The business community shared their concerns about the difficulty in the old process, which required someone to go to multiple buildings and see multiple department contacts,” Mayor Ronnie Marks said. “We now have one person dedicated to provide assistance throughout the process, and all the needed department contacts are at one location.”
Athens City Hall houses the Council Chambers and work room which can be used as a media staging area in the event of a long-term natural disaster, such as the deadly tornadoes that hit in 2011 and 2014. The building includes a safe room that can accommodate City Hall workers and those at the staging area.
“This is ideal because we have a dedicated area where media can get updates from our
Holly Holman
departments and have work space to immediately share that information with our citizens,” said Grant Coordinator/Communications Specialist Holly Hollman. “The safe room offers protection for employees and media working during an ongoing event, such as what we saw in 2014, when warning sirens sounded multiple times.”
Another feature of Athens City Hall is the support of local artists. A stained glass creation of the city’s logo designed by artist Julie Gill and made by children at an Art on The Square event hangs in the Council Chambers. Photographer Randall Peek captured iconic Athens sites which are displayed on canvas throughout City Hall, along with a couple of sites shot by Hollman.
In addition, the 2016-17 Athens Mayors Youth Commission will discuss the possibility of overseeing an art contest for local students, where Youth Commissioners choose a theme and pick the winning entries. A wall at City Hall has been reserved to display local art either through this program or a similar program.
The Horton legacy will be honored at City Hall. A wall area will display a photo and sketch of the Horton home as it looked on this site during the Civil War, historical information about the Horton family, and photos of the 1955 City Hall and the new City Hall.
Mayor Ronnie Marks
“Judge Horton and his family donated this land to Athens for public use,” Marks said. “City Hall is here to serve our citizens for the next 75 to 100 years, and it should be a building our citizens can be proud of.”
The previous City Hall that set on this site was built in 1955 and held its first council meeting in January 1956. It operated until 2011. Issues with leaks, mold, basement flooding and lack of space prompted the need for new facilities. City Hall employees operated out of the Athens Utilities building on Wilkinson Street while the new City Hall was constructed.
Coinciding with the open house is the launch of the city’s new website, which provides more user-friendly features. Among the highlights of the new website are:
• Responsive design so menus work on different size devices.
• Compliance with the ADA requirements for the visually impaired. For example, providing text for each image and graphic that enables a user with a vision disability to understand what is on the screen.
• A “Notify Me” application so citizens can sign up to receive emails for new posts on the site, such as agendas, job openings and news items.
• Updated calendar that includes Parks and Recreation events.
• Alerts that will be shown by a red banner on the top of the page.
• Increased search features.
• An “Agenda Center” that allows for agendas and minutes to be searched by date and/or keywords.
The website address is www.athensal.us and now is available for use.
