Bids are out to find painters and tile masons for a Vicksburg City Hall sprucing to better reflect its architectural era.

Offers for two separate contracts are due in late March and work is expected to take less than 30 days.

City architect David Clement said painting and tiling the building’s interior has been on a “to do” list for city officials for a while. Plans are to cover the now pale-yellow walls, rust-colored trim and iron staircase railings, Clement said. The second floor’s blue carpet will be replaced with tile.

None of the offices inside City Hall, home to five divisions of Vicksburg government and the mayor and aldermen, will be included in the project. Clement said painting the walls in the hallways a different color will make it easier to make other improvements on the building later.

“We’re trying to stay away from colors that are more trendy and go with something a little bit more dated,” he said. City Hall is 103 years old.

The front staircase that can be seen upon entering allows the walls of each floor to be seen. Clement said he will present the city board with a selection colors that will match the rust-colored Pirelli rubber flooring on the first floor, the new tile on the second floor and the wooden flooring on the third. The ironwork will be painted black.

“We’re just trying to keep it freshened up – keeping ahead of the maintenance. If you don’t, small problems become bigger problems,” he said.

Clement said funds for the project will come out of one of the city’s budgets for public building maintenance.

“Projects like this have to be budgeted for,” he said. “I don’t know whose budget it will come out of, but we have to figure out when the last time something was painted and when it needs freshening up – and budget for that.”

Clement, who has been working as the city’s architect since 2001, has done similar renovation projects for public buildings throughout the city. He also oversaw the exterior renovations on City Hall in 2002. The work included replacing glazing on outdoor windows, woodwork repairs to gutters and painting the building to its current yellow and white status.

“We came up with a color that would match with this style of building,” Clement said.

City Hall also underwent a renovation in 1940. The yellow walls and rust trim on the interior were added in 1996.