The Township of Mapleton council concluded that expanding its municipal office may not be a bad idea at this time.
At Tuesday’s in-person meeting, Mapleton council approved the building department’s proposal to expand the township’s municipal office.
Patty Wright, township’s chief building official, explained their case as a “good way to bring more fluidity with the operations."
Her building department has significantly grown, and office space has become more deficient as a result.
“The addition would have its own entrance from the existing parking lot complete with signage, which will cut down on traffic and disruptions to the main administrative office. It will also open up space for public works to align their administrative office staff together, and further open up space for future growth,” the report stated.
“The proposed addition would be 800 square feet, projecting south from the current director of public works office. The preferred location is the most non-invasive, as it will not impact parking, however, there may be a minimal redirection of the generator lines.”
Wright wants to use the building department’s reserve fund, noting that by using the fund, the township will not be using any of the taxpayers’ money.
“As you know we have a very healthy reserve fund in the building department. I think the practical step is to regroup us into our own space and use our own reserve fund, so that way we have zero impact on the tax levy,” said Wright during the meeting.
Mayor Gregg Davidson pointed out the space limitations in the office as many of the building department staff have either been put in the basement or upstairs.
The next steps for the expansion is to include an architectural or engineering firm’s design and put out a request-for-proposal (RFP) for the project.
“The firm chosen would be a vendor of record that are subject matter experts through a limited tender to threshold of $100,000 as per finance policy. We’ll have meetings coming forward to get a specific number to get to council about any preliminary construction budgets for the design proposal for approval,” explained Wright.
As of right now, the construction start date for the expansion is unknown.
