By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

PELHAM – Pelham will move forward with building out the second floor of the city’s Water Administration Building to house the Pelham City School System’s central office after the City Council approved the project during a May 19 meeting.

During the meeting, the council voted unanimously to amend the city’s administration budget by $236,000 to include building out the second floor of the Water Administration Building, which is behind Pelham City Hall, to house the BOE central office.

The city will handle portions of the renovation project in-house, and will subcontract portions of the project to other companies, Pelham City Council President Rick Hayes said during a May 20 interview.

Through an agreement between the city and the Board of Education approved in October 2014, the school system will rent the currently vacant second floor of the Water Administration Building for $3,900 each month.

Through the renovations, the more than 4,000-square-foot space in the Water Administration Building will be turned into offices for the school system’s central office staff. The PCS central office staff currently occupies a roughly 2,600-square-foot space below Pelham City Hall.

Previous renderings of the project included individual offices, conference rooms and a large meeting room.

Hayes said the city is attempting to complete the project “quickly,” and is looking to “get (the BOE) in there in the next two-to-three months.”

While the second-floor’s immediate tenant will be the school system, Hayes said the city also is looking to the future with the building.

Pelham School Board President Rick Rhoades previously said the school system may one day move into the current Pelham library building after a new Pelham Library is constructed.

“We are looking at what will be good for the BOE, but we are also looking at what will be good for the city long-term,” Hayes said. “Whether it’s a business incubator or meeting space for the city, we want to have that long-term plan.”