Nogales to save, restore Old City Hall

[Source: Nogales International] -- "This is the only place where you can live in history," said Executive Director Axel Holm as he welcomed visitors to the Pimeria Alta Historical Society Museum on Friday. The museum occupies the Old City Hall building at 136 N. Grand Ave. The occasion was a kick-off for a historical preservation and restoration program sponsored by the City of Nogales. "We will strive to be a great community by initiating and completing the restoration of the city's showcase property, our original city hall," said Mayor Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel. The city has painted the outside of the building and will make repairs to the roof and air conditioning, said Nils Urman, community and economic development director. His department will provide signs through a grant from the Arizona Department of Tourism. Nogales Volunteer Firefighters built the original city hall, and the city will work with that group and the Pimeria Alta Historical Society to make the building more functional, Urman said.

County ask for grants for Nogales courthouse

[Source: Nogales International] -- Santa Cruz County supervisors crossed their fingers April 30 and voted to apply for federal Community Development Block Grant funding to continue renovating the 1904 Historic Courthouse on Morley Avenue. The amount of the grant would be $490, 264. The money would pay for a new heating and ventilation system, and upgrade the electrical system, said Mary Dahl, Community Development director.

But the application requires the county to commit $175,536 in leveraged funds. Dahl is optimistic the county will get a Heritage Grant for Historic Preservation to cover the extra cost, as it did with the Robert Damon Recreation Complex, she said. But the county cannot apply for that grant until later this year. Applications are due Dec. 29, 2008. If the county does not receive the Heritage grant, the $175,536 would have to come out of the budget for the following fiscal year, Dahl said.