By SCOTT BAUGHMANLedger Staff Writerscottb@gaffneyledger.com

With more than $650,000 already paid out to contractors, Gaffney City Engineer Scott Keller said the new city hall project was proceeding on schedule, despite some inclement weather delays.

"I'm happy to say that we are still on track to be completed with the project by the revised Dec. 30 deadline," Keller said as he addressed the City of Gaffney Building and Grounds committee on Friday. "As you may recall the original date was set for Dec. 21, but we've added nine days to that at the request of the contractor due to some heavy rain."

Keller and Gaffney Police Department Sgt. Ron Ramsey spoke with the committee to inform them of progress and new options for information technology systems being considered for the new building.

"We have completed the erection of the structural steel for the main building," Keller said. "and the interior wall framing on the first floor. Framing on the second floor is in progress along with the installation of the roof system and exterior walls. Some of the bricks have already been delivered to the site but no masonry work has begun yet. There is a 'rough-in' of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in progress."

Councilman Johnny Little replied, "I have a lot of people ask me about the wooden roof you're installing, asking why it isn't steel like the rest of the building. That doesn't impact the safety of the building, does it?"

Keller explained, "Not at all. It meets all of the building codes we're operating under and in fact is a much more economical solution than a steel roof."

City administrator James Taylor informed the committee about proposed changes to the information technology systems in the new city hall.

"A few years ago we had approved money to replace the phone system in the old city hall. We never used it because we had decided to wait until we moved into the new building. Well, that time is almost upon us and Sgt. Ramsey and I are looking into switching our phone system to this new technology called a voiceover IP network." Ramsey added, "Voice over IP is a voice over Internet Protocol system and basically allows your computers and phones to run on the same wire. Since you don't have to run two wires, you're going to save about $8,000 to $9,000 right there. I know some folks may be concerned about security issues with it being an IP system, but we're only going to be connecting the phones and computers inside our own building. There won't be an Internet accessible component of it to make it vulnerable to hackers."