On Wednesday, Oct. 30 residents and public officials from Helper gathered on Main Street to celebrate the new Gary Hardwood Public Works Building. In attendance at the event were several public works employees, city council members, Mayor Lenise Peterman and Hardwood himself.
The celebration was punctuated by a ribbon-cutting ceremony courtesy of the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce.
At the ceremony, Mayor Peterman stated,” Our new public works building is named after Gary Hardwood, who worked for the city for 40 years, and we wanted to honor him and his service to Helper. So we’re proud and excited to have this new building.”
Hardwood also spoke at the ceremony, sharing,” I’m quite honored that they’ve done this for me … It’s just an awesome deal.” After these statements the ribbon was cut, officially christening the new building.
Speaking to Castle Country Radio, Mayor Peterman shared what this new building means to the citizens of Helper,” It means so much, the building they were working out of was undersized. It was 60 years old and it was made of cinder block and falling apart. So we’re so grateful to the Community Impact Board, which funded this project in conjunction with the city.” The mayor continued,” We’re super excited to give our employees a good, safe work environment.”
Peterman also provided insight into what it was like to be mayor during the construction,” I’ve never built a building, so I learned a great deal in the process. The vision we had originally had to be somewhat altered because of the previously existing building and some other things. So I learned a ton,” jokingly she added,” way more than I needed to.”
The Gary Hardwood Public Works Building is located at 73 South Main Street in Helper.