Hopkinsville City Council voted unanimously at its Tuesday meeting for two measures that clear the way for the state probation office to eventually move out of the heart of downtown.
First, the council voted to authorize a $1 million bond issue to finance renovations to the former Williams Chevrolet building on Clay Street between Fifth and Sixth streets. When that work is finished, the Probation and Parole staff will leave their offices at another city-owned property, the former First City Bank building at Ninth and Main streets.
The council approved a lease agreement with the state agency, which will pay approximately $101,000 annually for the Clay Street property. The lease is for seven years. The lease payments will offset the city’s bonds for renovations.
“This is one of those great win-wins for everyone involved,” Mayor Carter Hendricks said.
Ninth and Main streets, where the Probation and Parole office has been located for several years, was long seen as the center of Hopkinsville’s downtown retail district.
The city rents apartments on the second floor of the former bank building. No plans have been announced for the building’s main floor after Probation and Parole moves. However, the mayor suggested other uses for the space that would be a better fit for a commercial district.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
