A request to hire an architect to design a new Oxford Township Hall was tabled last week until officials can determine exactly how much money is available for the project.
The request came from Trustee Charles Kniffen, who serves on the Building and Site Committee.
“We all know we’ve got to build a new township hall,” he said.
Kniffen said by having the hall designed first, the township can get a more clear picture of the construction costs involved and be able to accurately inform residents of the cost.
Kniffen warned the board against sitting on the new township hall project too long because if the village becomes a city, the township will lose that source of property tax revenue.
Although she agreed that an architect is needed, Trustee Shirley Clancy, who chairs the Building and Site Committee, disagreed that it’s the first need.
Clancy said the first need is “clear direction” from the board as to whether or not it wants to contruct a new facility.
She told this reporter she wouldn’t want to spend money on the project only to find out later a majority of the board is not in favor of it.
After that, the next step would be to determine exactly how much money is available for the project, the trustee said. “We need to know how many dollars we have to work with,” she said.
Currently, the township has approximately $840,000 set aside in the Building and Site Fund.
In addition to that, Clancy said there’s the issue of an “outstanding” $500,000 loan made from the Building and Site Fund to the Water and Sewer Fund about five or six years ago.
Clancy said it needs to be determined if that money is going to be repaid to the Building and Site Fund. She said some board members have indicated that maybe the money should go elsewhere.
It also must be determined how much money, if any, can be made available from the township’s fund equity.
If a loan is required for the construction project, Clancy said it must be determined how much can be set aside each year from the General Fund to pay it off within a 10-year period.
The trustee noted that back when the township started saving for a new hall in the early 1990s, it “always intended to not ask (voters) for a millage” to pay for it.
“We always planned to do it out of our budget” through a combination of General Fund monies and saved monies in the Building and Site Fund, she said.
Clancy said it’s important to know exactly how much funding is available in order to determine the new township hall’s size and what will be included inside.
Previous research has indicated an estimated total of 21,300 square feet would be needed to house the township offices and a meeting room, a substation for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department (5,000 square feet) and the Oxford Township Parks and Recreation Department (2,500 square feet).
“We’d like to get everything under one roof,” Clancy said.
However, that square footage estimate is by no means a definite as the overall size is subject to change in light of available funding, Clancy noted.
It’s entirely possible the current estimated square footage could have to be pared back and things like the proposed meeting room could be put off for a future addition, she said. Until then, the township could continue to hold its meetings at the Oxford Veterans Memorial Civic Center. If a new township hall is contructed, it will be done so on the 27.86-acre piece of property the municipality owns at Seymour Lake and Granger roads.