Rehoboth's new city hall was on display Oct. 1 as hundreds of city residents toured the spacious building on Rehoboth Avenue. They were not disappointed.
The building's bright, open entryway welcomes visitors to the new space, where they find immediate access to city services.
A soaring two-story atrium holds a pair of stairways leading to the building's centerpiece. The commissioners' meeting room, where public meetings will be held, is easily the most impressive part of the new structure.
It's both more formal and more inviting than the old basement room, offering plenty of comfortable chairs that stand ready to welcome public participation.
An adjacent, tower-shaped, glass room is available for smaller meetings such as executive sessions. We hope the room's many windows provide a constant reminder to the mayor and commissioners that government works best when it's open and transparent – let the sun shine in.
Critics complained the building would be a palace for former Mayor Sam Cooper, but both the mayor and city manager have modest, first-floor offices separated by a small conference space.
Other offices give city employees, who have long worked out of cramped spaces, enough room to do their jobs. Far from palatial, these spaces are utilitarian, unpretentious and much appreciated by city staff.
On the second floor, the big corner office with a view of Rehoboth Avenue goes not to the mayor but to the police chief. The police department has its own wing, with new, secure offices and critically needed, long-overdue space for a force that serves not only residents but also the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to Rehoboth every summer.
Most impressive on the police side is the city's new dispatch center with multiple dispatcher stations, ready to facilitate emergency dispatch in a 17-square-mile coastal area.
This is a building that appears well designed to get the city's work done, now and into the future.
Congratulations to all who had a hand in bringing Rehoboth's new city hall to life.
-
Editorials are considered and written by Cape Gazette Editorial Board members, including Publisher Chris Rausch, Editor Jen Ellingsworth, News Editor Nick Roth and reporters Ron MacArthur and Chris Flood.
