BlackburnNews.com file photo of Essex Town Hall.BlackburnNews.com file photo of Essex Town Hall.
Windsor

Does The Future Hold A New Town Hall For Essex?

Essex town council might start putting money aside for a new town hall, or leasing space, or to build an addition on the existing building.

It has not decided yet, but councillors do know they have to do something because town staff have outgrown the space on Talbot St. S in Essex.

"We continuously get more government downloading from the province. They want more information from us all the time, so there's been bodies added to try and take care of that situation," says Deputy Mayor Richard Meloche. "And, we were not large enough, to begin with when we had amalgamation going back 15 to 20 years ago."

Meloche says council has not made a commitment to any one options, but it made an observation.

"What we've noticed in a report is that it's actually cheaper to build a brand new building," he says.

The trouble is, when it comes to building an addition, council is rather limited at its current location.

"We're kind of landlocked," says Meloche. "We don't have a lot of ability to spread out, so they're [town administration] suggesting that we'd have to go to a second storey. It's going to be expensive."

He says council will decide during budget deliberations for 2018 whether to start putting money away and how much it should put aside.

- With files from Paul Pedro

Read More Local Stories