HIGHTSTOWN: Borough Council pursues temporary space

By David Kilby, Special Writer
HIGHTSTOWN — Earlier this month, the Borough Council decided to go out to bid for modules that will house temporary offices for municipal employees and the Police Department.
Efforts to provide adequate offices for borough administration and police have faced many challenges in the 1.2 square-mile, built-out borough ever since the departments were displaced due to the floodwaters of Hurricane Irene in August 2011.
As the council discussed in length its options, it decided module structures for temporary offices and storage provide the most flexibility both for the borough and potential merchants of the project.
At the council meeting, Carmela Roberts, borough engineer, said the municipality can ask bidders to bid on the project as a whole or on separate portions of the project, such as just the administrative module or just the storage module.
Ms. Roberts said the police modules will have to be a separate bid since they always are custom made and take about three months to fabricate.
”They are also more expensive because they have to be manufactured particularly,” she added. “It’s possible we might want to buy a police facility” instead of renting or leasing temporary modules for the department.
Regarding the municipal office modules, the bids being sent out will “definitely move (the borough) administration into a facility as soon as possible,” Ms. Roberts said.
”The police facet of this is the most complicated,” she continued, adding that when the bids come in, it may help the decision on whether the borough should go with a permanent or temporary structure.
Currently, the borough plans to place the Police Department and municipal office in temporary modules behind the Ely House on North Main Street.
As the council goes out to bid, it also is passing the project on to the Planning Board as a capital improvement.
As with many construction projects in the built-out borough, parking at the temporary municipal building may be a problem, Police Director James LeTellier noted. Thus, he asked for separate parking for patrol cars so they don’t interfere with municipal building traffic.
The borough advertised for bids for the modular buildings Friday, Jan 11, and bids are due Jan. 29, said Michael Theokas, borough administrator.
But he also made clear that, while the borough now is working to provide temporary offices, the primary option of the Borough Council is to rebuild the current Borough Hall.
Councilman Robert Thibault said there’s a possibility the modules could be the borough’s permanent new home, especially if the borough consolidates with East Windsor in the future — which would make a full-fledged new Borough Hall unnecessary.
Today, the Police Department rents space at 415 Mercer St., the former Lucas Property, for its operations while the municipal government operates out of the Public Works building on Bank Street in cramped quarters.
The borough’s lease at Mercer Street expires the beginning of May, Mr. Theokas said.
Last week he said that the estimate of Lexington Insurance, the borough’s insurance company, is at $1.9 million to rebuild or refurbish Borough Hall.
”This is just an estimate, and all that work would go to bid,” he said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency may be able to contribute 75 percent of the costs to rebuild Borough Hall, and the borough may be eligible for 100 percent reimbursement for the temporary module project when considering both FEMA and Lexington Insurance reimbursements.
”Until the total project scope is defined, the FEMA contribution number versus the insurance number will not be known,” Mr. Theokas said. “Lexington, like us, is waiting for the bids and total costs of temporary facilities. That is not part of the rebuild costs, but is part of our total claim and would be eligible for 100 percent reimbursement until the borough would be able to move in to the new facility.”
Estimates for completion of a new building ranges from two to three years, he said, adding, “To my knowledge, the (rebuilding) of the current Borough Hall is the primary option the council is discussing at this time.”
Mr. Theokas said the total reimbursement from FEMA and the insurance company is approximately $850,000 for Hurricane Irene claims.
He added, “Obviously, we still have open claims and are waiting for reimbursement dollars.”