KANNAPOLIS — As part of the implementation of the Imagine Kannapolis Strategic Plan, the city council Monday night approved several budget amendments, including one that will allow for “upfits” or adjustments in space to accommodate growth in city hall.

Imagine Kannapolis was first launched in 2022, and its goal was to look ahead five and 10 years, determining what objectives the city would like to accomplish as well as to guide how the city may grow in that time. A number of focus groups, including many residents, were formed and the priorities developed looked at both the city’s needs and things that would contribute to quality of life and a strong economy.

Numerous projects were selected, and this year’s budget and the fiscal year 2025 budget were then drafted with a focus on the implementation of that strategic plan, made up of those projects, one of which was “upfits,” or realignment of city hall’s work space.

After nine years, a number of departments have outgrown their existing space, including customer service, which is just inside the front door. During COVID, the front counter, where residents can make utility payments in person or meet with customer service representatives, had a temporary wall installed for the health of everyone involved. That reduced space, and the office area behind that front reception section was also crowded, with some doubling up on office space.

In addition, other departments that have outgrown their space include finance, human resources, planning, engineering, parks & recreation and information technology (IT). Human resources in particular was anxious to address space concerns to allow employees privacy when meeting with HR staff.

In order to accommodate all departments, there will be a redesign of existing space, including “shell” space built in when the current city hall was constructed to allow for growth. It includes creating new spaces on the first floor for parks and recreation and customer service, and human resources will move to the third floor next to IT, allowing room on the second floor for expansion of planning, engineering, finance, legal, communications and administration. Parks and Recreation will have its own separate entrance on the left side of the building once construction is complete.

In addition, the project will include renovations to 12 parallel parking spaces on Laureate Way in front of city hall. Currently there are no handicapped accessible spaces, and residents have to park on the side of the building and walk to the front. Those spaces will become angled spaces with five handicapped slots so residents can easily park in front and walk right in. Parking on the side of the building will remain unchanged.

“Parking in front has been an issue for some time, and people have had to park far from the front entrance and walk around,” said Assistant City Manager Eddie Smith. The new parking arrangements should ease some of the that, and make it easier to park, as “some people are great at parallel parking and some still need some practice.”

The low bid for the project came in from Miles – McClellan Construction Company, Inc. in the amount of $1.193 million. The company not only submitted the lowest bid, but anticipated they could complete the job in the shortest amount of time, 140 days.

Construction is expected to begin the first week in September and customer service employees will be moving temporarily to the Emergency Operations Center/training room on the third floor Aug. 28-30. During construction, in-person payments will not be accepted but Smith said signs will be posted in the front entryway, at the customer service doors, and on social media showing all payment alternatives, including an on-site drop box and drive through. Construction is expected to be completed in early February.

Asked what residents could do if they arrive to make a payment and need assistance, Smith said the staff will still be on site.

“They will still be in the building, and there will be a number to call on the signs,” he said. “I expect that if someone comes in and is really having trouble, if they call that number, someone will come down and talk with them and show them where the drop box and drive through are, and at least in that first instance, they may be willing to take the payment in person. But we are doing all we can to make it easy.” When construction is complete, in person payments at the new, larger customer service station to the left inside the front door will resume.

The project will allow for accommodation of all existing employees, but the question was raised about what the town will do in another nine years if the current rate of growth continues.

“I suspect that in another nine or ten years, we will be looking at a new police facility,” said City Manager Mike Legg. “Which means in the next few years, we’d need to begin to talk about planning for that. And that would allow us to expand into the right side of city hall. But that’s for another day.”

The motion to award bid for the city hall renovations to Miles-McClellan in the amount of $1,192,800 passed by a vote of 5-1.

In addition to the upfits to city hall, another 15 projects were discussed during the meeting.  The total amount of the initial funding for these projects is $8,248,290 which will fund all projects, including city hall, at varying levels. However, a number of the proposed projects were tabled Monday night for further discussion or review.