Senoia will hire a consultant to determine if the First Baptist Church building will suit the city’s needs for a new city hall and police station.

The proposal from city manager Richard Ferry was to hire the consultant for up to $11,826 with the consultant also determining the city’s current and future needs and evaluating whether or not to build a separate police station or whether City Hall should be renovated by adding a second story.

Several council members balked Monday night at the cost of the proposal and it was decided that the city would reduce the scope of the consultant’s work so the city can learn if the First Baptist Church location would work for the city’s needs.

Ferry said the consultant’s fee is $160 an hour and he thought the consultant would be able to stay within council’s direction.

During Monday’s meeting, the council learned the future of a new library for Senoia is a little cloudy now that the funding granted by the legislature was vetoed by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

City Administrator Richard Ferry said the city has a current agreement for the building to be built with county labor for between $700,000 and $800,000 as opposed to the $1.2 million grant the city had applied for.

The veto from the Governor did help, though, as it moved Senoia from fourth on the state’s priority list to second place, Ferry said.

If Senoia decides to go ahead with the county and eschew the state grant, construction could begin near the start of 2008, Ferry said. Another concern is how the furnishings for the library will be funded, he added.

Ferry said another issue with the library was the state’s library construction director being opposed to locating the site near the railroad tracks, but the state will listen to Senoia’s appeal on the matter.

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