Peters Township getting bids for municipal building
Peters Township is seeking proposals from design consultants in an effort to make its municipal building more efficient and safer.
The municipal building has been a fixture on East McMurray Road since 1964, but was remodeled in 1983 and 1984, making the structure hard to navigate and inefficient. In addition, the building is constantly in use as a meeting site, making it hard to keep track of who is inside.
“The building was not designed for single entry,” said Michael Silvestri, the township manager. “We also need to be more cautious. There have been incidents in other communities.”
Peters wants a consultant to perform an assessment of the building, particularly its condition and how it is used. One of the things the township is considering is the installation of a key card entry access system for the building, Silvestri said.
In addition, the consultant would be tasked with designing physical and operational measures to increase building security and improve its use. For example, the township’s planning department is in the basement of the building, Silvestri said. That department needs to be relocated to the building’s first floor and use the basement for storage, he said.
“We’re looking at relocating the offices for better work flow,” he said. “Non-public uses would be moved to the basement.”
Silvestri said many of the door handles in the building are at least 30 years old and are not functioning properly. And because of the remodeling, many doors and walls in the building do not make sense anymore.
The township is spending a total of $64,000 on the study, which is expected to begin later this year. Silvestri said this project is already in the current township budget.
“This building gets used a lot.”