Town of Irmo plans for new city hall after receiving $500,000 state grant

IRMO, SC (WOLO) — In the 1980s, the town of Irmo had less than 5,000 residents.

Now, around 12,000 people call the Columbia suburb home. 

“The town hall, it is what it is, a house where we’re using every bit of space in here,” said Mayor Barry Walker.

“While that’s served us well for over 20 years, the town has grown since then and so has the staff,” said Erik Sickinger of Irmo town council.

The town’s budget has also grown since then. Mayor Barry Walker says he hopes to increase the town’s staff but to do so, Irmo needs a bigger city hall. 

“We have a $9.5 million budget, zero debt and zero taxes on the citizens,” Walker said. “In order to build this building, we could easily get a $3.5 million bond but then the town would be in debt.”

Irmo recently received a $500,000 grant from the state government and the mayor expects that more funding is coming in the near future from the federal government. 

“I went up to Washington and showed them our plans and they got it into a federal earmark,” said Walker.

The new town hall is set to be located across from the Irmo police station but Mayor Barry Walker says there are future plans for the building that currently houses town hall.

“I envision it being a museum or meeting space for offices,” Irmo’s mayor said. “This has a historic value to the town and it could be repurposed into something we can use.”

The plan for the new town hall would be five times bigger than the current town hall and would make room for not just new office space but other community services. 

“What we’re trying to do is make sure that we’re not just building for our needs today, but also building for the needs of the town in general and the expected growth we’re going to have,” Sickinger said. “If we’re building anyway, you might as well build additional space.”

Tuesday, the town of Irmo is hosting a council meeting where the project will be discussed. 

“All we have right now is conceptual stuff,” Walker said. “The real design for the building will come after we award an architect.”

Even with a lot of work still to go, Mayor Walker hopes to see a groundbreaking on the new town hall in fall or early spring.