Elected officials said their goodbyes to the old city hall when Brookhaven City Council met on Tuesday, July 23 – the last business meeting to be conducted before the opening of Brookhaven City Centre in August.
Council members agreed they’re looking forward to hosting school-age children, Scouts, Rotary Club, volunteers, and others to learn about city government.
“I want to thank our staff for the leadership that they have shown through the years with the patience of being in the conditions here, and the vision for the wonderful new building. As we know, we are ‘Better Together‘ here in Brookhaven,” council member Madeleine Simmons said.
“This is another chapter in the great book that we’re building in this great city with great people, and we’re better together,” council member John Funny said. “I’m so appreciative of the great leadership that went into the planning and executing in the construction of our new facility.”
Mayor John Park played “Movin’ On Up” by Ja’Net DuBois and Jeff Barry, the theme song from the 1980s television show “The Jeffersons,” in a moment of levity.
The air conditioning in the current building was being testy that night as City Manager Christian Sigman said he would not miss some of the building’s quirks.
“I will not miss being stuck in the elevator twice at 5:30 in the morning, and thank God the fire marshal got in earlier than me and knew how to get me out – twice. And I will not miss moving the trash cans around this room on a heavy rain. Greg [Klima, Brookhaven facilities director] you prettied it up real nice … you’ve dressed up this pig pretty well, but it’s time to move on.”
HVAC issues have plagued the city’s buildings during recent the hot weather, Klima reported.
“We have had HVAC issues, literally in every building that belongs to the city, and we’ve dealt with those,” Klima said. “We’ll keep dealing with those as they come up. We’re very excited about the gala coming up this week and moving into the new building.”
Klima said there will be “a million small details to work out” at city centre from the hand soap to the trash can liners, but the facilities department will “take care of all those things.” He said he’s confident about the July 25 gala, the grand opening event on Aug. 9, and the transition into city centre. None of the furniture from city hall will be moved into city centre.
Community Development Director Linda Abaray said her department is “all hands on deck” ensuring that life safety and code requirements are met at city centre, and preparing for the gala.
City centre will be managed by Explore Brookhaven, the city’s tourism, branding, and marketing arm. Explore Brookhaven President and CEO Renée Areng said 81 events have been booked, including the Rotary Club, Brookhaven City Council district meetings, town halls, DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, and city council meetings. Additionally, 19 paying organizations like Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Leadership DeKalb, Georgia Society of Association Executives, and others have reserved event space at city centre.
“This is the first and the only relationship I’ve been able to find where the destination organization and the governing body are in partnership to manage a facility,” Areng said.
Sigman said he can’t stress enough the huge efforts going into opening the city centre.
“We’ve gotten assists from DeKalb County, Georgia Power Insurance Commissioner. Just about everybody in this city government is contributing some passion to get this building open,” Sigman said.
The next Brookhaven City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 26.