City of Bainbridge employees are packing up and moving out of the soon-to-be-renovated City Hall and down the street to their new temporary home.

The 19 employees who work in City Hall are moving into a building at the corner of Broad and Water streets that was formerly the home of Gowan Furniture and Allen Sports. They’ve been moving boxes of office supplies and other items to the Gowan building since Feb. 21, when the City Council gave its final approval for the major City Hall renovation project.

“We’re going to start moving the furniture over on Monday and hope to be completely moved out on Friday,” Hobby said. “The actual renovation work probably won’t begin until April 1, but we decided not to delay the move again, because there will probably be things like filing cabinets that will be straggling behind in the move.”

Citizens shouldn’t experience any interruption in City Hall functions, such as paying utility bills or calling city offices. The City Hall phone switchboard will be operating through the move, but due to technical issues, some callers may have to go through an operator instead of being able to dial extensions directly, Hobby said.

Monday, March 19, will be the first day at the temporary City Hall in the Gowan Building. Utility payments can be made at the old Allen Sports location right on the corner. The entrance to City Hall proper will be on the north side of Water Street next to the square.

During the City Hall renovation, which is estimated to take about a year from start to finish, the City Council and other City of Bainbridge boards will meet at the Potter Street Community Center. The Bainbridge Planning Commission will hold its last meeting at City Hall this coming Tuesday at 6 p.m. The City Council’s first meeting at the community center is March 20 at 6:30 p.m.

It won’t be the first time the council has met at the community center; Councilwoman Roslyn Palmer, who was first elected in 1988, remembers being sworn in at her first council meeting at the Potter Street location. Back then, the council met in its chambers in what is now the Callahan Room at the Firehouse Center and Gallery on Water Street. But because the late Councilman W.M. Coyle had suffered a broken leg and couldn’t walk up the two flights of steps to the chambers, the council met for awhile at Potter Street, Palmer recalled.

In 1976, City Hall moved to its current location at 101 S. Broad Street, the site of a marble bank building originally constructed in the early 1900s. City Hall can be reached at (229) 248-2000 and the city’s website is www.bainbridgecity.com