(7/13) "The Town has officially signed the contract with Sanbower Builders of Myersville to construct the town’s first Town Hall," Burgess Barnes told the Council at its July meeting. The decision to move forward with the 1.4-million-dollar project was approved during the June Town Council meeting in a 3 to 2 vote, with Barnes casting the deciding vote.
Barnes told the Council that before work on grading the property could begin the Town would need to pay $2,000 to acquire the necessary County stormwater and forestry permits. Once we have them, work will quickly begin.
The Town signed the contract after successfully working closely with Sanbower to get the cost of the actual building down to $1,040,000. Not included in this figure was $356,000 for site work, i.e. grading, paving, driveways, &c., for a total of $1,396,000.
The final figure, which was revealed at the June meeting, stunned the Council, who expressed concern over spending that sum of money while the Town was facing unknown costs associated with upgrading the town’s water and sewer systems.
Barnes, however, made an impassioned case for moving forward, citing Town Councils had been talking about the need for its own Town Hall for years, asking the Council, "if not now, when?" Barnes noted that prices are not going to go down and if the vote was delayed, "who knows what it will cost us in a year or two?"
To help fund the project, the Town will draw $200,000 from its General Fund to reduce the amount of money the Town will have to borrow. "Between the $400K in state grant money and $200K from the General Fund, we’ll only have to borrow $800K, which will result in a monthly mortgage of $4,600," he said.
Barnes walked the Council through the financing of the Hall, stating that thanks to the Council’s decision to increase the Town’s property tax rate, the Town would be receiving $60,000 more in property tax revenue, more than enough to pay for the mortgage on the building, he said.
The 2,960 square-foot building will include a conference room on the right immediately upon entrance, with the town manager’s office on the left, adjoining the file room. The Burgess office will be adjacent to the front conference hall. The middle of the building will consist of a "kitchenette" and bathrooms, with the back part of the Hall set aside as a large conference room with the ability to seat 40.
Barnes noted that one of the nicest revisions to the plans was the segmentation of the Hall into two parts, which will allow the front section to be locked while allowing the back section, including the bathrooms, to be used by groups like the Lions Club without worrying about the security of Town offices or records.
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