By Jef Rietsma
A new chapter in Vicksburg’s history was set to open January 29 at a meeting of the village Council.
The meeting would be the first at the village’s new municipal office.
Vicksburg Village Manager Jim Mallery provided a tour of the 7,800-square-foot building a few weeks earlier. He said the move from the previous village hall took place in December and day-to-day operations started at the new location Dec. 18. The police department began working from the new building a week before that.
Mallery provided a gem of an anecdote while discussing the move and the number of boxes stored in the basement at the former office.
“We found a bathroom that nobody even knew was there because so much stuff had been piled up in front of the door for who knows how long.” Mallery said. “(Sgt.) Darin Stanfill has been here 20 years or so and he never even knew it was there. It was absolutely bizarre.”
With the aid of professional movers to tackle heavy and bulky file cabinets and boxes, the move was completed over the course of two days without incident.
Mallery compared the two buildings to a 1977 Ford Pinto and a 2024 Chevy Impala. Mallery said the freshness and spaciousness of the new building are features he noticed immediately. He said the village has clearly and finally stepped into the 21st century.
“On a personal note, 99 percent of the time I met with people at local coffee shops, diners, other public places instead of at the old village hall because it was an embarrassment,” he said. “It wasn’t ADA compliant, it was antiquated … it was just an embarrassment and, don’t forget, it wasn’t even designed to be a municipal building.”
Mallery said village old-timers believe the previous village hall was built in the 1950s and initially used as a doctor’s office.
The centerpiece of the new municipal building is a meeting room where the Village Council and Planning Commission will assemble. Previously, those panels and other village committees lived nomadically, meeting through the years at a variety of locations around town, including the Community Center at Main and Prairie, Brady Township Hall, the Historical Society Depot, Angel’s Crossing and, more recently, South Kalamazoo County Fire Authority’s office.
The spacious meeting room features a modern look with up-to-date technology, which will improve audio and video of deliberations.
“Even the locker room for our police department is just such an incredible improvement,” he said. “I really think that and just the modern upgrade will certainly help keep up morale.”
The police department, which features a modern interview room, takes up the north half of the building, while the south end is comprised of offices and the meeting room. Four full-time employees will work on the office side on a day-to-day basis. In addition to offices for the village clerk, finance director and Mallery, there is cubicle space for use as circumstances warrant.
There is also a copier/supply room and an employee breakroom that doubles as a 10-person conference room.
Mallery said he had plenty of occasions to look at drawings and blueprints. But the end product, once he saw the completed village office, exceeded what he anticipated.
“You see everything on paper but it doesn’t really strike you until you see it as a finished product,” he said. “It’s just a phenomenal upgrade for the village.”
He noted landscaping will take place in the spring, after the old village hall is demolished in February and a parking lot put in its place.
The first planning commission meeting at the new complex will be Feb. 12 and a public open house is set for May 18.
Located on a parcel just north of the village water tower on North Richardson Street, the $2.7 million complex was paid for up front. Mallery said the fact the village did not take out a loan to finance construction will save Vicksburg taxpayers $1.5 million in interest.
The first step toward the new village office was taken in spring 2017, when council members agreed to start setting aside money toward construction cost. A ceremonial groundbreaking took place last April and work started in earnest a few weeks later.
Mallery said the village was fortunate to have the expertise of Frederick Construction as project manager and architect Eckert Wordell. Both companies, he said, epitomized professionalism and clearly worked in the best interest of the village.
