Officials of Oak Island, NC current and past put on an open house last Sunday to celebrate grand opening of the new town hall and police department.The Mayor, Betty Wallace, welcomed both residents and visitors to the new $4.5-million facility.
In May of 2004, the town received notice from OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) that would have to replace the old police station as there was a mold problem.
When the architects designed the new police station, they designed it so the new town hall building could be designed in conjunction with the breezeway that joins the two buildings.After she explained that the new building came in about $400,000 under budget a burst of applause erupted from the audience.
The new building cost approximately $2.5 million, with a parking lot across the street and equipment in a AV control room bringing the project total to $4.5 million.The building features a larger council meeting room, with a projector for showing supplemental information. Audio from the meetings is played in the lobby and can also be heard on headsets available from town staff.
According to Kyle Thomas, public information officer for the town, meetings will be taped and rebroadcast on the town’s public access channel with new, updated equipment allowing the town to get videos out much quicker and accomplishing in one day what used to take a week.