By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Those accustomed to Alabaster’s former public meeting space – the City Hall Annex – will see quite a few changes at the City Council’s next meeting on Oct. 7.

Instead of an aging former church building off U.S. 31, the council will begin meeting in a new City Hall designed with efficiency in mind, said City Manager George Henry.

The council’s new meeting room can seat about 200 attendees, and features several multimedia offerings designed to share information with those in the room. A pair of large television screens, which can be angled toward the audience to display items such as council agendas and information on items under council consideration, flank the crescent-shaped wooden desk large enough to seat Alabaster’s seven council members.

A retractable projector screen behind the council seats offers another multimedia option, Henry said as he gave the council members a brief tour of their new meeting space on Sept. 24.

A camera in the back of the council chambers will allow the city to record future council meetings and post the videos to the Alabaster website.

Henry said nods to Alabaster’s history are scattered throughout the building. He currently is working with Shelby County Historical Society President and Alabaster resident Bobby Joe Seales to place photographs of historical city figures, such as inaugural Alabaster mayor George Scott, in the building’s lobby.

The new City Hall’s address, 1953 Municipal Way, is a reference to the year the city was incorporated. A water tower from the Silura cotton mill – one of the area’s first businesses – towers over the new building.

“There are historical references everywhere in here,” Henry said.