Madison Messenger - June 27th, 2021

PAGE 8 - MADISON MESSENGER - June 27, 2021
www.madisonmessengernews.com
Open house set at Plain City municipal building
By Dedra Cordle
Staff Writer
The village of Plain City is hosting a
long-awaited open house and ribbon-cutting
ceremony for its new municipal building.
The public is invited to tour the building,
located at 800 Village Blvd., and enjoy light
refreshments on July 1 between 4:30 and
7:30 p.m. There may even be an ice cream
truck on the premises for those with a sweet
tooth.
“This is something we have been looking
forward to for a long time,” said Nathan Cahall,
village administrator. “We want the
public to come out and see this great facility,
see their tax dollars at work, and also
have a bit of fun with the family.”
He said the event has been more than
two years in the making.
The project’s official groundbreaking
took place in April 2019. The great hope at
that time was the project would be completed
on budget before the end of the year
with the open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony
to follow soon thereafter.
As the months passed, the construction
schedule was pushed back due to change orders
and inclement weather. So, too, was
the schedule for any public ceremony to celebrate
the project’s completion.
“We all know it’s not an official opening
without the big scissors and the ribbon,” Cahall
quipped.
But when the project was complete and
the time came for the government officials
and the police department to move into
their new digs, COVID-19 shut down everything.
“We were able to work in the building,
but it was nothing like we had initially envisioned,”
Cahall said.
Eventually, the public could access the
building to pay bills. They no longer had to
travel to multiple locations around town to
take care of village-related business as the
new building centralizes services. But they
were not able to officially see the $3.1 million
complex they helped to fund with a 0.5
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Messenger photo by Dedra Cordle
Peyton Kaman, a zoning enforcement technician with the village of Plain City, stands
outside the main entrance to the village’s new municipal building at 800 Village Boulevard.
Though the building has been open for business for more than a year, officials are
hosting a long delayed ribbon-cutting and open house on July 1 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
percent income tax levy.
Come July 1, however, they will finally
be able to see what is inside. Upon entering
the facility, visitors will see a shared lobby
with the administrative section to the right
and the police department to the left.
The administrative section houses the
village council chambers and offices for the
fiscal officer, mayor, parks and recreation,
the income tax department, utilities, and
the zoning department.
There are also several conference rooms
and a kitchenette, to name some of the features.
The police section is three times larger
than police department’s former station on
Friend Street. The space includes a detective’s
office, interview rooms, a property and
evidence room, a training room, and a safe
room for victims of crimes such as domestic
violence.
It also features a Sally Port to move suspects
into and out of the building safely
without posing harm to the community at
large.
Police Chief Dale McKee had a hand in
designing the layout of the police section. He
said one of the things they absolutely
needed was separate bathrooms for police
staff and suspects.
“We had to share a bathroom at our last
station,” he explained. “Sometimes, we
would go in there and there would be urine
or feces all over the floor or the walls.”
He said having that separation, as well
as having the additional space overall, is a
true point of pride for the officers.
“It has been a real morale booster for
them,” he said. “They walk into this new facility,
and they feel proud.”
He added that construction of the new
municipal building is one of the highlights
of his long career.
“When I started here more than 25 years
ago, our department ran out of a trailer
common at a construction site,” he said.
“We used to joke that someone would hitch
us to the back of their truck and pull us
away while we were inside.”
He, along with Cahall, said they are
grateful to the community for helping to
bring the building to fruition.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without
their support,” McKee said.
Messenger photo by Dedra Cordle
Plain City Police Chief Dale McKee sits at
his desk in his office. He said the village’s
new municipal building makes the officers
“feel proud” whenever they walk through
its doors.