Township seeking new offices

LACKAWAXEN — Lackawaxen officials are seeking citizen support for a proposed Lackawaxen Township Building/Road Maintenance Garage replacement project at the same site as the current township buildings on Township Road. Why do they need to replace the township building? Experts and staff tell us it is too expensive to repair our building. The building, a converted chicken coop, is almost 50 years old and in severe disrepair. It is costly to operate and inadequate for today’s space needs, they say. Lackawaxen is one of the state’s fastest growing townships. In the 1960s, we had no sewage permit law, no zoning ordinance and no building code to administer. The township population has grown over seven fold since the 1960s. This has vastly increased the need for sewage, zoning, and building code administration services. Addressing property owner permit needs and administering all the regulations has necessitated a significant increase in staffing. As the population grew, they have experienced much larger meeting attendance needs and there is an expanded need for public meeting room space to allow interaction with our citizens, as well as to provide adequate space for administrative operations. Township citizens and property owners have made it clear that our current space is inadequate. Just as important, rising fuel costs can no longer be ignored. Continuing to operate in a poorly insulated, energy inefficient building will have disastrous financial consequences for taxpayers and staff. “If we don’t take action now. The economic reality is that it is more cost effective to build from the ground up and not try to retro fit. Also, it is more cost effective to build now than later. Experts say that there is no immediate end in sight of fuel cost increases. Prudent planning requires us to take action now. That is why we are asking for your support now,” the Township Board of Supervisors, Brian Stuart, Fred Gelderman, and Rich Krochta, said in a statement. “Our current building is the township’s administrative hub. We provide a wide range of services for you, the citizens and property owners. Our staff provides triple the services it did years ago in the same space. Growing demand for our services is putting stress on our staff working in inadequate facilities. We need to keep up with growth,” they concluded.