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Town Hall tinkering adds, subtracts space
Town Hall tinkering adds, subtracts space
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Munson Township Trustees began tinkering with planned spaces for an expanded Township Hall last week, eliminating some and adding others.
Trustees met with architect Henry Penttila in a series of meetings to address space issues for the township and provide a more identifiable entrance to the building.
Mr. Penttila had provided trustees with a program of spaces, including estimates for various rooms in the reconfigured building, based on interviews with township workers and officials.
The discussions are in preparation for working out proposed floor plans, which trustees said they hope to present to the public in early March.
After studying the proposed spaces for about a week, trustees questioned the planned 20-by-20-foot space for a building lobby.
"I'd rather put it into an extra large community room than the lobby," Trustee Andrew Bushman said.
He also proposed expanding the proposed 28-by-28-foot township meeting room. By making that room 10 feet wider, it could be joined with the 38-by-60-foot community room, he said.
The two rooms would be divided by a movable partition that would offer some sound proofing between them, he said. That would enable officials to combine the two rooms if a large public gathering arrived for a township meeting, he said. The community room is proposed to accommodate 150 people.
Township officials briefly discussed allowing the expanded space into the township meeting area for public gatherings but dropped the idea after Mr. Penttila warned of possible security issues. He said it might not be wise to allow access to audio and visual equipment in the meeting space.
Township office manager Judy Toth said workers will want defined spaces to separate themselves from the public, but she asked that the work spaces still provide views to the public lobby. She said there may be times when the clerical assistant is not available to greet members of the public. With views of the lobby, other workers would be able to direct them to the appropriate offices, she said.
Mr. Bushman asked that one additional work station be added to the plans. He said work stations are proposed for the fiscal officer, the office manager and the zoning inspector. An additional work space would serve for now as a conference room and could be used as future office space as the township grows, he said.
Trustees rejected plans for upgrade an existing kitchen to a commercial-grade one at a cost of $30,000 to $60,000.
Trustee Irene McMullen said the township doesn't wish to compete with catering businesses in the area. "We're not in the catering business," she said. "We have a lot of wonderful businesses here that provide catering."
Mr. Penttila said the biggest issue with the kitchen and the remainder of the building is the electrical system. He said he plans to consult with an electrical engineer before proposing changes to the system.
Trustees also rejected a proposed employee-only restroom and separate entrance for employees.
Trustees authorized Mr. Penttila to begin investigating fixes for the roof above the Munson Fire Department, which has had problems with water leaking inside the truck bays.
Mr. Penttila said the project remains on track as he proposed it in January with substantial completion by the end of this year.
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