What should the new Hightstown Borough Hall at 230 Mercer St. look like?
How should the building be renovated inside?
That’s what the Hightstown Borough Council wants to know from residents and from volunteers on the town’s boards and committees at a special “vision” meeting, set for March 28 at 7 p.m.
The meeting will be held in the Hightstown Firehouse social hall at 140 N. Main St.
The purpose of the meeting is to get input from the volunteers and the residents, as the Hightstown Borough Council moves ahead with the planned renovations to the future Borough Hall.
The town bought the building from the YMCA of Western Monmouth County. The building, which had been built as a school around 1880, had most recently been used by the YMCA as a childcare center.
Hightstown Borough Council awarded a contract to the Musial Group architectural firm to serve as the architect and contract administrator. The Mountainside-based firm will be paid up to $40,000 for the concept design of the new municipal building.
Hightstown Borough municipal government has been without a permanent home since Hurricane Irene flooded the town in 2011.
Since the former Borough Hall was flooded out, municipal offices have been spread out in town. Some of the offices were relocated to the Department of Public Works facility at 156 Bank St., forcing the DPW workers into a trailer for office space.
The Hightstown Borough Police Department has rented space at 415A Mercer St., and the Hightstown Borough Municipal Court has been relocated to Robbinsville Township in a shared services arrangement.
Over the past few years, Hightstown Borough officials considered several other locations for a permanent home for the municipal offices before finally agreeing to buy the Mercer St. building. The YMCA approached the town about purchasing the building.
A previous consultant drew up conceptual plans for the layout of the municipal offices at the former YMCA building in 2018 as part of a feasibility study while the town was considering whether to buy it.
The former YMCA building has nearly 8,000 square feet on the first and second floors. The consultant suggested building a two-story addition at the rear of the building to provide another entrance and exit, and for handicapped accessible men’s and women’s bathrooms.
It was also suggested at that time that the Hightstown Borough Police Department could be located in a separate building on the property. No decisions have been made.