Shelby council moves forward with new village hall

By Allison Scarbrough. OCP Editor.

SHELBY – The Shelby Village Council moved one step closer toward its new village hall last night when it approved the floor plan for remodeling the former Lakeshore Medical space where the new hall will be housed.

Council approved the motion with 5-1 vote. Councilwoman Sharita Prowant cast the dissenting vote. Councilman Ben Michalko was absent.

The new hall site, located downtown at 218 Michigan Ave., will offer a larger council room and separate offices for the administrator, clerk, treasurer and police station. It will also have a conference room.

The current hall, located at 189 N. Maple St., houses the village library. The police station is currently located several blocks away from the hall in the old railroad depot.

By moving the police department to the new space, the village will save $3,000 per year for rent it has been paying for the current police station, said Village Administrator Aaron Desentz.

With the new location, the village hall and the police department will be housed in the same space, and the library will remain in its current location. Once the village hall moves, the library can expand.

The village put the old village hall up for bids, and the library was the lone bidder of $15,000, said Village President Andrew Morse.  The village purchased the new site for $25,000, he said. The money from the sale of the current location will go toward remodeling the new site, he said.

“Once we get the blueprints, we can send it out for bids,” he said.

“This is not set in stone,” Councilman Rich Setlak said of the remodeling plans.

With the new location, the council room will be able to accommodate 75 people. The current council room’s capacity is 48.

“My hopes are that the office will be occupied between July and September,” Desentz said.

The new space has a large basement, which will give the village added storage capacity and provide a place for the police evidence room.