The city of Morgantown will officially welcome the public back to Morgantown City Hall on Tuesday.
Truth is, the new-old building has been open for business for weeks now.
Communications Specialist Hollie Gregory said public-facing personnel started moving in at the end of March.
Prior to that, the building had been off limits for nearly two years during a $3.5 million overhaul.
Now it’s done — almost.
The city has a ribbon cutting scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, ahead of Morgantown City Council’s first meeting back in its rightful home since July 2022.
As of Thursday morning, there was still work to do.
“We’ll get it done. We’re finishing up the council chamber now. That’s the last thing we’re doing,” Engineering and Public Works Director Damien Davis said. “I think everyone is going to like what we’ve done.”
While there’s some debate as to whether the building is 100-years old this year or this is the 100-year anniversary of the start of construction, the fact of the matter is, it’s an old building.
Gone are the days of offices running window air conditioners year-round because they happened to sit above the boiler. Now, everyone has temperature controls.
Gone are the days of sewer gas running up the building’s elevator shaft.
“For the public, it may look very similar to what it was, and that’s what we wanted. We wanted to keep that historic aspect, but it such a better space now,” Davis said.
As part of the opening, the city is displaying artwork from the Metropolitan Theatre and part of the Morgantown History Museum’s Don Knotts feature.
Both are Morgantown legends, and both began life 100 years ago.
Davis said the now-spacious finance and code enforcement lobbies will feature art and artifacts meaningful to the city.
The city is currently working with WVU in the hopes of adorning those spaces with art by noted Morgantonians Blanche Lazzell and Grace Martin Taylor.
“We work here, but this is the people’s building,” Davis said. “I’m excited for everyone to see it again.”
