Tuesday, August 31, 1999
Monroe now under one roof
Police, offices in new city building
BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MONROE — Picture moving day from an old home to a new, then multiply that about 10 times. That was the scene Monday as city workers came from the east, the west and the north to move into new quarters.
The long-awaited move into the $3.5 million Monroe Urban Center on Main Street marked the reunion of the police department and the municipal offices, which have been spread all over the city for years, Mayor Elbert Tannreuther said.
It also will end the estimated $50,000 annual rent the city has paid to house those workers.
“This became my goal more than 15 years ago — this gives us an identity,” the mayor said. “We've been in and out of little buildings, old buildings, using used furniture. Now we have something that represents what we are — a fine city.”
Employees hauled hundreds of boxes in pickups, minivans, cars and moving vans. Some worked to get computers hooked up. Others tried to find the best location for boxes of supplies and drawers full of files. .
“I'm trying to find the box that has the invitations for the open house” for the new building, which is set for 1 to 4 p.m. Sept. 19, said Linda Egelston, council clerk. “I have to get them in the mail by Wednesday.”
Down the hall, as finance clerk Donna Oakley worked to organize her new office, she discovered a box that had held her well-known candy dispensers, just as Police Chief Ernest Howard came upstairs and around the corner.
“Whew, this is a job,” Chief Howard said, helping himself to a handful of candy.
“But it's great. I never thought I'd ever see this day,” said Ms. Oakley, a city worker 17 years.
While showing off the new police headquarters downstairs, where the city tax office and community room also are located, Chief Howard said his challenge was to move while: providing uninterrupted service; keeping lines of communication open for residents and officers; and getting equipment switched over to the new building.
A dispatcher manned the console at the firehouse on Ohio 4, and officers communicated via hand-held radios and cellular telephones, the chief said.
“It went pretty smoothly — no problems,” he said late Monday.
But there's more work to do. In the council wing, workers were still busy with hammers and nails, saws and paintbrushes.
Council plans to hold its Sept. 14 meeting in the new chambers.
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