Revamped Richfield Town Hall reopening
By Kathleen Folkerth
RICHFIELD VILLAGE — The newly renovated Richfield Town Hall in Richfield Village will provide the community with a state-of-the-art facility that should meet its needs for years to come.
“It’s not just nice looking, but it’s very functional and the right size for us,” said Richfield Village Mayor Michael Lyons. “We’re equipping it with wiring for computer networking and bringing it all up to current communications standards.”
It’s a world apart from the former town hall, which shared space with the fire and police departments. Those two departments got new buildings, which spurred the renovation of the existing town hall building, which is located at 4410 W. Streetsboro Road.
“We built the police and
fire stations and left our old town hall where we had
the police, fire and administrative
offices,” Lyons said. “Once the police and
fire moved out, the bulk of the building was not well
designed for administrative use.”
Lyons said the project first
went out for bids in 2003, but budget concerns led the
village to hold off on the project until 2005.
With change orders, Lyons said
the project’s total cost was $2.8 million.
According to Melanie Tibbs, service
director, departments will be moved into the new town
hall Aug. 21. Village office personnel have been spending
this week preparing for the move.
“People are excited,”
Tibbs said.
Phone service will be transferred
from Aug. 18 through Aug. 22, Tibbs said, and it might
be difficult to reach some offices during this time,
although voice mail will be operational.
While construction was taking
place, village business has been conducted in the fire
department and police department buildings. Council
meetings took place in the fire department’s conference
room.
Council President Barbara Lanford
said the renovation means big improvements for council.
“We’ll be able to
accommodate a lot more
people,” Lanford said. She added that in the old
council chambers, when a big issue was discussed there
was often standing room only for the audience.
“It was awkward because there
wasn’t a place for people to sit,” she said.
“There should be plenty of room now.”
Lanford said residents also will
be better served.
“There will be a lot easier
access to all of our departments,” she said. “Previously
there was not a lot of rhyme or reason as to how we’ve
placed departments. Now it will be more productive for
the employees and the people who need to reach them.”
Lyons said the building has an
“open government theme,” with lots of windows.
“You can kind of see into
the offices and where council will be,” he said.
Tibbs said there are slightly
less than 4,000 individual panes of glass used in the
building.
The renovated town hall will
house offices of the council and mayor and the departments
of finance, service and zoning. Tibbs said about 20
employees will work in the building.
The building will not, however,
house offices for Richfield Township, as it previously
did. Currently the township’s departments
are located in a village-owned
house behind the town hall.
According to Laurie Pinney, township
zoning inspector and fiscal officer, the township has
proposed building its own town hall on land it owns in
Rising Valley Park. The issue will be on the Nov. 7 ballot.
For the village, Mayor Lyons
said the project was a positive one .
“We will now have this
building that is fully functional,” Lyons said.
“It’s much better than it ever was. There’s
more space than we need, but that’s what you want
in a building.”
He added he doesn’t foresee
an increase in the number of staff positions right now
because the village population is stable.
The last step to the project
is putting in landscaping, which is expected to be completed
by the fall. An open house may take place when the project
is finished.
“We are anticipating doing
something this fall,” Tibbs said. “We really
do want the residents to see how nice it is.”
Above: Richfield
Village’s administrative offices will be moved
into the newly renovated Town Hall next week.
Below: The new Richfield Village Council chambers
|
