BROWNSTOWN
If everything goes as planned, the Brownstown Street Department will have a new home early in the spring of this coming year.
That home will be constructed on the west side of the entrance to the town park on West Bridge Street.
On Monday night, the town council approved a $98,755 contract with Daviess County Metal Sales to build that pole barn-type structure.
The construction will be financed with the $140,000 the town will receive once the sale of the former town hall building at 200 W. Walnut St. to the Brownstown Township Fire Protection District is complete early next year.
The street department and garage are presently housed in the back portion of that building.
The council put the building up for sale in July after moving the town hall and the police department into a newly renovated building at 116 E. Cross St. on May 18. That building previously housed The Jackson County Banner newspaper office and was renovated to make it safer, secure and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Some of the site work already has started for construction of the pole barn.
Councilman Mark Reynolds said the contractor has said construction could start in March and be completed in a couple of weeks, depending upon the weather.
The town also will need to submit a third of the cost as a down payment as soon as possible so construction can be scheduled, Reynolds said.
The cost of the project also includes $5,500 in construction design and permit fees for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security building plan review division.
In a related matter, council President Gregg Goshorn said town attorney Travis Thompson has reviewed the agreement for the sale of the former town hall building to the fire district.
The district’s board, however, has not signed the agreement, and that probably won’t happen until that board’s Jan. 11 meeting unless it conducts a special meeting, town Clerk-Treasurer David Willey said.
The fire district’s plan is to put trucks in the two bays currently occupied by the street department.
The Jackson County Health Department also will be allowed to continue to use the front of the former town hall building for a COVID-19 testing site for the time being, Goshorn said.