Municipal offices’ expansion ready for phase 2

With police soon to be out of trailers, other departments can move in

By jennifer dome
Staff Writer

By jennifer dome
Staff Writer

The long-planned renovations of the South River municipal offices on Gordon Street are finally expected to begin.

By the end of January, the borough’s police force is expected to move back into the Main Street police headquarters, two years after the renovations at the facility began. The move will enable renovations to begin on Gordon Street, Councilman Telemahous Koukourdelis said at Monday’s public Borough Council meeting.

The Gordon Street project was put on hold until the police station renovations were completed, since municipal employees will be housed in the same trailers where the police are currently housed. The trailers are located at the old Lincoln School on William Street.

The borough had originally allocated $500,000 for the renovation of the Gordon Street complex, but that figure has since been increased to almost twice that amount. Councilman David Sliker has said that the actual cost will be approximately $700,000. He noted that $200,000 has also been allocated for contingencies that may occur during the renovations.

Koukourdelis said Monday that the Gordon Street building will only be expanded to a small extent to incorporate a lobby for the borough’s residents. The lobby will house a public restroom, an ATM, windows for payments, and the borough clerk.

"We tried to make it customer-service friendly," Kou-kourdelis said.

The remaining space will be used for municipal offices and will be secured for municipal employees only. Employees will "buzz" residents into the secured area when they need to meet with the business administrator, mayor, or other borough officials or employees, Koukourdelis said.

The outside of the building will also be improved, he said, adding that the goal is to add landscaping, benches and possibly a flagpole.

"We’re going to do something nicer on the outside. It will look like a government building," Koukourdelis said.

Officials experienced a number of headaches while trying to complete the work at the police headquarters on Main Street.

On Nov. 7, 2001, the Borough Council terminated its agreement with the original contractor due to delays in performing the renovations. The contract had been awarded in August 2000. According to borough officials, the project was to be completed within seven months after it began, meaning the completion date would have been June 2001. The contract was terminated after the contractor submitted a new timeline with the completion of the renovations scheduled for early 2002.

In March of this year, council members unanimously approved a resolution that allowed the bonding company to take over the project and hire a contractor to finish the renovations. The bonding company, Luberman’s Mutual Casualty Co., appointed the local contractor, John Patrick & Sons, based on William Street, to finish the renovations.

According to Borough Business Administrator Brian Valentino, any cost that is incurred for the project by the new contractor will be covered by the bonding company. The borough will not pay more than the original $1.5 million that was approved for the renovations, he said. Only if the borough changes specifications of the project will the borough incur an additional cost above that figure, Valentino said.

Renovations for the headquarters include adding 7,025 square feet to the existing 5,734 square feet, with additions to the front and back of the building.

The renovations will make the building handicapped-accessible in order to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, the project’s architect, Mario Barone, said. According to Barone, all three levels of the headquarters are being "retrofitted."

The basement level, which previously housed jail cells and storage areas, was opened up completely, Barone said. After the renovations are complete, the police will have male and female locker rooms complete with toilets and showers, as well as conference rooms and an evidence lock-up area in the lowest level of the building. The basement level will be accessible only to police officials, Barone said.

The ground level, which will be accessible to the public from Main Street, will include the police dispatchers station, police offices, and jail cells that remain from the original construction.

The front section of the second floor will be a public lobby with public restrooms, the architect said. The municipal court room, court clerk and the judge’s offices will be housed on the second floor as well, Barone said.

There will be several conference rooms on the second floor for use by lawyers and clients, he said. In addition, all Borough Council meetings and other board meetings will be held on the second floor. An area will be designated for the borough’s television station, TV 35, Barone said.

According to Valentino, all the improvements made by the original contractor to the second floor had to be redone by John Patrick & Sons.