FREEHOLD – Municipal officials in Freehold Borough are continuing to advance a plan to establish a new Borough Hall, police department headquarters and municipal court in a building on Mechanic Street.
On May 4, Borough Council members awarded a $10,000 contract to CME Associates for geotechnical services at 30 Mechanic St. Geotechnical services help to determine if a site is suitable for a proposed project.
Freehold Borough is in the process of purchasing the building for $3.3 million. The building was previously used by the Monmouth County Probation Department.
Municipal officials have said they plan to renovate, retrofit and use the building as Borough Hall, as the headquarters of the Freehold Borough Police Department and as the municipal court.
At present, Borough Hall is on West Main Street and the police department and municipal court are in the Rug Mill Towers on Jackson Street.
Council members previously awarded a $67,360 contract to DMR Architects to design a layout of the building and to supervise construction and retrofitting of the new municipal headquarters.
According to a resolution awarding the contract to CME Associates, DMR Architects had subcontracted CME Associates to provide geotechnical services.
Representatives of CME Associates subsequently notified borough officials the firm could provide the services, which would reduce the amount of the contract with DMR Architects.
Representatives of DMR Architects agreed certain services could be removed from the firm’s contract and that CME Associates could contract directly with Freehold Borough for the geotechnical services, according to the resolution.
The council has adopted an ordinance which authorizes the $3.3 million purchase of the building at 30 Mechanic St. Municipal officials hope to begin retrofitting the building by Aug. 1. The seller will undertake the retrofitting work after being provided with plans by the borough.