CENTRAL - The City of Central has officially opened the doors to its first city hall.

Tall ceilings, a full kitchen, and state-of-the-art council chambers decked out with new modern technology are just a few features in the newly built central city hall that sits along Sullivan Road. Less than a half a mile from where the mayor's office used to be on Hooper Road. Now most of the city's departments are operating under one roof.

"It's been 20 years, and 3 attempts have been made over the years to get a city hall built. We put a lot of work into getting to this point," Central Mayor Wade Evans said.

The $7.4 million facility was funded with about $3 million dollars in state money, with the rest coming from the city's general fund.

"We built in intentionally understanding the world we live in is not the world it was 50 years ago. So, we fortified some areas to protect staff from dangerous people who want to do dangerous things," Evans said.

We caught up with some members of the community to get their thoughts on the new city hall.

"It's a different change to the community because we've always had the old school there, and then they tore it down and they just made something better, like bigger and something useful to use. So, it's really nice, like the lights and everything looks like very new, just the whole town, makes it look better," Central resident Leah Howell said.

Mayor Evans says they wanted a color-changing light because today's technology allows for it.

"So, we can honor different seasons and different holidays through our lighting package, which is really neat. All this month, we are lighting the building blue for LOPA," Evans said.

Others have voiced different opinions on social media. Some are comparing the outside of the facility to a nightclub.

"People who don't appreciate the vision, who don't appreciate the lights, you know, I don't begrudge them. I respect their opinion. I disagree with them," Evans said.

A grand opening will be held for the new city hall on April 28th at 3 p.m.