In an effort to bring resources closer to its citizens, the city of Gainesville erected an experimental mobile City Hall Tuesday.
Officials hoped that the effort, which saw city staff migrate from downtown to Westside Recreation Center, would motivate residents to come out and voice concerns they have within the community.
"They're here today, on site, to provide job information and even applications," said Carrie Bush, director of Citizen Centered Gainesville, who was involved in the mobile city hall. "So if people want to apply for city jobs, if they've got a planning and zoning or building permit questions, they can get information and permit information."
Although the turnout of this experiment wasn't high, staff members, who wore bright orange shirts, tracked down people trying to inform them of services the city of Gainesville can provide to them.
And the ones who did show up found the mobile City Hall to be of great help.
"I'm glad I came, I think it is a great idea," Gainesville resident Lilian Letteen said. "I think it brings out to people who don't really have the opportunity to go downtown."
The city will take the information from today to see how it can best serve the community and will be reviewing the mobile city hall prototype to see if it will be used in the future.