It’s not quite the walls of Jericho, but the walls of the old Addison Township Hall did come tumbling down this past week after township officials moved into their new home next door, which is now open for business.
‘We are moved in, we just don’t have everything put away yet, but we are up and operational now,? said Addison Township Supervisor Bruce Pearson. ‘The citizens just have to use the temporary entrance, which is by the Sheriff’s Department door, until the new entrance iscompleted.
Pearson said they began moving things on Wednesday, Nov. 25 and finished on Monday, Nov. 30. He noted that it was the citizens and volunteers who made it possible.
‘We didn’t hire movers or anything, the fire department came over and they were just instrumental (in helping). All those young guys came over and they moved all those filing cabinets and all the furniture,? he added. ‘That’s really a testament to how good this township is, when all the volunteers (come out).?
He noted that citizens John Clothier and Philip Marshall also helped out quite a bit. And the building inspector, Doug Lowe helped with putting in the water-softener and filtration system, as well as scratch free walls in the Addison Sheriff’s Substation. Meanwhile his son Phil Lowe donated his time doing the stone work around the fireplace in the community room.
‘As we were leaving the last day, the ceiling in the hallway caved, water came through and all the tiles fell down,? Pearson said with a laugh. ‘I think it was giving us the signal that we were on the last day there.?
Not only did they get volunteers to help move, but Pearson along with his neighbor have been clearing out the trees behind township hall.
‘We’re hoping that now with that opened up,people will make it a nice baseball field down there and people will use it,? he said. ‘We also will have a sledding hill.
They are planning to have a ‘grand-opening? for the public sometime in January or early February, Pearson said. They received a nice donation check for that specific purpose.
‘I don’t want have it until we have everything kind of done so we can actually have a nice clean environment,? he noted.
The township had authorized up to $2.4 million, but Pearson is estimating when it is all said and done they’ll have spent about $1.7 million. He noted that he is just amazed at how they have the same size building as previous, but so much more room.
‘That other building we had, had so much wasted space and the air quality (was horrible), just breathing in here I can tell the difference,? he said. ‘It’s just a very good work environment and there is a rhyme and reason for everything now and I think the citizens are going to be very proud of the new building.?
Finally, Pearson said he’s proud of work done by both Partners in Architecture and construction managers for the project Rewold and Sons Inc.
‘We always hear the complaints (of other townships not liking the architects or construction managers who they hired for a project.) We don’t have too many complaints we’ve been very happy with what both of these companies did for us,? he added. ‘It was money well spent.?