City officials and committee members (L-R) Rex Brown, Stewart Jensen, Jon Hansen, Jonah Christensen (hidden), Tom Sorensen, Jackie Huff, Lacey Belnap, Lindzey Young, David Beck, and Ace and Phyllis Allred welcome residents to the new city hall with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
CENTERFIELD—Centerfield officially opened its new city hall building on Friday and welcomed community members to use it as their own.
The grand opening marked the first time the city has had its own building since November of 2019, when it moved out of the former city hall, which was subsequently demolished. Since then, city council and other meetings have taken place in the Gunnison Irrigation Company building.
Council members David Beck (left), Jon Hansen and Jonah Christensen and Mayor Tom Sorensen get settled in the seats where they will sit during future council meetings. Councilwoman Jackie Huff breaks in a chair on the other side of the dais.
“The building is yours to be used by the residents, and we turn it over to you,” said Tom Sorensen, Centerfield mayor, as he cut the red ribbon tied in front of the building.
Attendees ate cookies and took a tour of the building. They also sat in new chairs in a seating area much more spacious than the Gunnison Irrigation Company meeting room to hear a speech from the mayor. He and the council members sat on the new dais in the council chamber.
The building has three primary areas, all connected to the front and back entrances by a central hallway.
Opposite the council chamber is an office area with a reception desk where treasurer Lindzey Young will sit. There are three offices—one for Mayor Sorensen; one for Stewart Jensen, the city maintenance supervisor; and one for Lacey Belnap, city recorder. There is also a kitchen.
Sheet rock in the basement is not complete yet. Also still to come are microphones and video cameras in the council chamber. There will be a microphone in front of each council member’s seat and at the lectern where community members speak.
In his speech, Sorensen told the story of the effort, dating back to 2013, to secure funding for the new city hall,
He said the city council decided to pursue the project after a diagnosis that the old building was “crumbling.” Despite this, he said the Utah Community Impact Board (CIB) denied the funding twice.
Eventually, the CIB gave the city a $250,000 grant and $250,000 loan to be repaid over 20 years at 2.5 percent interest.
“One of the greatest things we did to keep costs down was that we wrote our own grants,” Sorensen said. “By us I mean Lacey [Belnap]. She is really the one to thank. She saved the residents a lot of money.”
The mayor also thanked Travis Kyhl and Zach Leavitt of the Six County Association of Governments, Candice Powers and Tooter Ogden of the CIB, Madsen Excavation of Mayfield, and Andy Rasmussen of Willow Bend Construction.
He recognized Councilmen Jaden Sorenson and Jonah Christensen for playing vital roles in securing funding for the building, and took multiple opportunities throughout the evening to thank city office and maintenance staff for their consistent hard work.
The Centerfield City Council will hold the first meeting in the new building this evening at 7 p.m.
