The commission stressed that the city isn't scrapping plans for a new city hall, but rather merely taking a wait-and-see approach to the economy.
"We have to have a new city hall, and we're going to build a new city hall," Meyer said, following the meeting.
"We're not saying we're not going to build it, we're just slowing down to make sure we can pay for it," Collier added.
The new city hall project began in April 2007 after several years of different commissions discussing it but doing nothing.
Since that time, the city purchased property located at 717 N. Main St., where the old Marathon gas station and Hager Construction Co. were located. In May 2008, the city held a groundbreaking on the new site.
The city was about halfway through the bidding process, but rather than select a bid, the city opted to postpone, which will result in the rebidding of the project once the commission decides to move forward again. The current bids it has received are good for 90 days.
The city had planned on announcing a start date on construction after it approved a bid, Collier said.
The plans for the new city hall call for two 10,000-square-foot stories and a basement. The first floor will house the billing, tax and finance director's offices, meeting room and bookkeeping.
The second floor will house the mayor and commissioners' offices, the city clerk's office, human resources, payroll, utilities director, building inspector and engineering offices.
The basement will house receiving, purchasing and storage areas.
The building will also include a drive through for people to pay their utility bills.
Additionally, the building will have areas designated for expansion, which should prolong the need for another new city hall in the future.
The current city hall at 517 N. Main St., was dedicated March 16, 1976. It began as a warehouse that was converted after the previous building on Oak Street became inadequate when the number of city employees swelled to 60. Today, there are more than 200 city employees, which reflects the need for the new building.
"Not long after city hall opened in '76, Nicholasville began to grow and sprout, and there was a lot of forethought on when are we going to build the next city hall," Meyer said at May's groundbreaking ceremony.
