Falls municipal offices to move to make way for renovations to township building
Falls Township is on the move.
It will move its administration, police and tax collector’s offices temporarily up Lincoln Highway to the same office building where the federal government leases space for the Social Security Administration, at the intersection of the highway and North Olds Boulevard.
The lease for 23,200 square feet of office space on two floors from the real estate agency Olymbec USA will be $18,700 a month, Falls Manager Matthew Takita said.
The temporary location is for "any of our services that residents walk in (for) and need to see an administrator," said Supervisors Vice Chairman Jeff Boraski.
The supervisors also authorized payment related to the project from current township funds, with those funds being reimbursed from bonds the township plans to issue. It also approved contracting with Concord Public Finance for financial advice on the project.
When will Falls move?
The move will take place in May and last until at least next April, during which time the township will have its current administration building at 188 Lincoln Highway renovated.
The township is placing ads for bids to do the renovations and plans to post them on March 8. When completed, 80% of the existing building will be completely updated. Takita could not estimate cost, pending the board receiving the contractor bids.
Falls has been considering how to best improve its municipal complex for several years and had planned to build a new building but the bids for that project in 2016 came in much higher than expected.
Construction workers need to be qualified to work on Falls project
At the supervisors' meeting Monday night, the board also approved an amendment to its existing Responsible Contractor Ordinance to close a loophole so that a construction manager or lead contractor would not only be trained themselves but most of their employees as well. It would require that "70% of the craft labor workforce" be either journeyperson workers with apprenticeship training program or a state apprenticeship agency or enrolled as a registered apprentices program.
"This will close that loophole. You're getting highly qualified and highly skilled people doing the work" said board Solicitor Michael Clark.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Falls administrators, police prepare to move for municipal renovations
