The Foley City Council has approved the purchase of a 3,000-square-foot prefabricated building to accommodate the growing needs of the city’s Finance Department. The new structure, which will feature 12 offices and a conference room, is part of efforts to address the increasing demand for municipal services driven by the area’s rapid growth. Mayor Ralph Hellmich stated that the additional office space will help the city keep pace with the community's expansion. 

“The city is growing a great deal, and we added people over the past few years,” Hellmich said. “Over the past two or three years, we looked at various options of purchasing land, purchasing buildings.”

The current City Hall building, where finance and other offices are housed, opened in 1976. 

“Adding additional office space enables our city to better serve our citizens’ needs by keeping our employees in a campus type area," Hellmich said.

Mike Thompson, city administrator, said the move will create more space for several Foley departments.

“In the short term, this not only gives finance a lot more space, but it also opens up the current finance space so that we can give revenue and the clerk's office more space,” Thompson said. “Right now, we've got folks working two per office in some of those departments. So this doesn't just address finance, it also addresses two or three other departments.”

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The new building will be placed on property now owned by Foley behind Foley City Hall. Workers using the new facility will be able to use the current municipal parking area.

Hellmich said several projects now underway, or which will begin soon, will also create more space for city departments.

The city is scheduled to break ground in early 2025 on a new library complex. The completion of that facility will provide space in the current library building. 

The Public Works Department facility at East Section Avenue and North Pecan Street is scheduled to be completed in 2025. That project will allow other offices to be moved into the current Public Works building.