BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – County leaders of Grand Bassa have dedicated a newly renovated Edina City Hall.
The hall was unveiled on Friday, July 21, along with a motorized canoe, intended to give citizens traveling from Edina to Buchanan an easy travel route.
The renovation done on the building includes replacing the metal roofing sheets, modernizing the windows from bricks to glass, and repainting the entire building.
According to Edina’s Mayor Austin Spiller, the renovation of the building and the purchase of the motorized canoe were done from the county and social development funds and cost US$15,000.
Travel between Buchanan and Edina via the canoe will now take about 25 minutes, which Spiller said would be much faster than how residents previously traveled.
Spiller said the city hall was originally erected by Edina citizens as a self-help initiative and dedicated in 1976 by the then-superintendent of Grand Bassa, Joseph M. N. Gbardyu, and former Mayor Crusoe E. Spiller.
‘’And that is why I started up by saying thanks to those that were in leadership, thanks to all of you that are still alive today that toted water and sand from the beach to get this building up today,†the current Mayor Spiller told the citizens at the program.
Ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly renovated Edina City Hall. Photo: Sampson David
Spiller recounted that when he took over the city corporation, the building could not host any community programs due to its poor condition.
‘’I see no reason why those of us, the beneficiaries today, should sit and allow the building to go away and that is why our administration prioritized the renovation of this building,†he noted.
Spiller thanked the county leadership for their willingness to bring relief to citizens of Edina through the renovation of their city hall.
Also speaking at the ceremony was Superintendent Levi Demmah. The program was climaxed with a fund drive that saw Gender Minister Julia Duncan Cassell, former Senate Pro Tempore Gbehzongar Milton Findley, and other dignitaries present.
Authorities expressed their goal of raising further funds to furnish the city hall.
The city, located on the north shore of the mouth of the St. John River, is 5.6km north of Buchanan. Edina was founded as a colony of the American Colonization Society in 1832 and was also the birthplace of the 12th president of Liberia, Joseph James Cheeseman.
Featured photo by Sampson David
