VIDALIA — Letting go of old memories is never easy, but the city on the move will leave behind its 60-year-old facilities to move into the new municipal complex in mid-March.

The complex will feature new buildings for City Hall, the fire station and the police station on a 75-acre stretch of land near Walmart.

David Draut, project manager for Clark Construction of McComb, said his crews are working on final touch ups, which should be ready in a week or two.

“It’s good to be getting close to done,” Draut said. “Anytime you get to the end of a job, you want to try and get done as quickly as possible.”

City Hall will be housed in a 10,000-square foot building, the fire department will be in a 12,000-square foot building and the police department will be in an 8,000-square foot building.

After the final repair list is complete, Draut said the fire marshal approval will be the last thing left before handing the keys over to the city.

“It’s been a good project for us,” Draut said. “I believe the owners are going to be happy.”

Mayor Hyram Copeland said he is extremely happy with the new facilities and is eager for everyone to move into the new complex.

“It’s been a project that’s been under way for over a year, we’re excited now about the next two weeks and moving into the new facility,” Copeland said. “It’s going to be a great asset to our community.”

Copeland said along with having more technology and space, the new City Hall building will feature a community meeting room for public use.

Police Chief Arthur Lewis said he is looking forward to the new building and that the additional space will definitely come in handy.

“It’s better equipped, so we can start implementing some new programs because we’ll have a lot more space,” Lewis said. “It’s going to be everything we need.”

Fire Chief Jack D. Langston also said the extra space his building has will be a welcome change.

“It’s going to be nice because it’s going to have extra room in it, and we’ve been crammed in here for so many years,” Langston said. “We’ve maxed out here.”

With the majority of the buildings being around 60 years old, Copeland said the new facilities were much needed.

“Instead of spending a bunch of money fixing those, we just decided to build this new complex,” Copeland said. “We’ve grown out of our old buildings and are excited to move into our new buildings.”

Contributing to the design plans himself, Langston said he and the fire department left some room in the design for future plans.

“There’s definitely some growth room up there,” Langston said. “We’re not used to that, so that’ll be nice.”

Letting nothing go to waste, all of the old buildings will be repurposed and still be used by each city department.

Copeland said the current City Hall will be converted into an IT department.

The police and fire departments will be transformed into substations and both will respond to calls depending on the vicinity.

“We’re planning on leaving a desk sergeant and a few officers here,” Lewis said.

“That way people can still walk in and file complaints at this building.”

As Vidalia continues to move forward, Copeland said all these steps are centered around moving the community into the future.

“All these facilities are going to be tremendous assets to our community,” Copeland said. “This is something we’ve needed for a long time, and we’re excited to almost be ready to move in.”