Bank donates building to Marble Hill for new city hall

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The Bank of Missouri last week donated the former Security Bank building to Marble Hill for use as a new city hall.

According to a news release issued by The Bank of Missouri, as a condition of the donation, Marble Hill will transfer its city hall facilities to Bollinger County. Once that move is made, the University of Missouri Extension and the Bollinger County Archives will move into the current city hall building.

"It only seems fitting that, given the history of the building, this landmark be given back to the city of Marble Hill," said David Crader, CEO of The Bank of Missouri. "One of the core values of The Bank of Missouri is to be a leader in the communities that we serve and community needs are taken seriously."

Bollinger County Commissioner Steve Jordan, who was present at the transfer, said the county commission has not yet decided what it will do with the building next to the courthouse where the extension and the archive are now.

The bank will move out some remaining items from the building before the city can move in. No schedule has been established for the actual moves.

Marble Hill Mayor Nick Hendricks thanked bank officials, stating, "not only everybody here appreciates the donation, but the community as a whole appreciates it."

Hendricks and others noted the historic building will not remain empty and unused but will give the city the extra room it needs and will bring life to the area.

In addition to fulfilling office space needs, the city and residents will benefit from the convenience of the drive-up facilities the building offers, Crader said. Residents can drop off payments at the window without having to park their car.

For the archive, moving into the current city hall will double the space it now has available for storing county records.

The move also will take the extension and archive center out of the equation for the next vote to approve a new library building. Voters recently turned down a bond issue to build a $5 million library/extension office/archive center building. Library director Eva Dunn recently said she intends to bring a scaled-down version of the new building to the voters sometime in 2014.

Donna Aufdenberg of the University of Missouri Extension said it's unfortunate the library is left on its own to promote the need for a new building, "but when you're offered a free building, you take it," she said.