'Resident-Friendly' Municipal Offices Envisioned

This week's high temperatures are causing headaches for municipal employees working on the second and third-floors of the Warren Municipal Building—temperatures hit triple digits in the non-air conditioning parts of the 100+ year old building.

Mayor Vic Sordillo said he ordered employees from those areas of the building to work in bottom-floor offices—and cited the situation as one of the reasons the Township Committee is moving forward on a possible expansion project to update and improve the township offices. 

At Thursday's Township Committee meeting, Committeemen Gary DiNardo and George Lazo presented a conceptual plan for an addition to the municipal complex's police headquarters building that extends west to the parking lot, and 31 feet south, to provide more than 15,000 square feet for police lockers and storage, and municipal offices—nearly double the existing office space in the former Nathan Hofheimer estate.

"Essentially, we're going to be tasked with trying to get every department over," Lazo said regarding the development of the plans. "But if not, the most 'customer-facing' people would come over."

DiNardo and Lazo visited several area municipal buildings to get ideas on building layouts and designs, and found a building with service counters arrayed in an octagonal form.

DiNardo said he could see how helpful the design was for residents trying to conduct business with the municipality. He said he would like to adapt such a layout, if the township moves forward on the project.

Committee members also bemoaned the current building's inaccessible stairways and hallways—DiNardo said he watched as an elderly resident struggled to negotiate the narrow stairwell after visiting offices on the second floor.

The committee agreed to request architectural drawings and costs estimates.

Despite the committee members' discussion of the inadequacies of the existing space and focus on making a "resident friendly" building, Horseshoe Drive resident Joe Lakatos said he didn't believe the plans were very "resident friendly."

"It seems to me, if this is supposed to be focused on residents, that 90 percent of residents won't visit this building," he said.

But the committee members pushed back, noting the need for space for the township's many volunteers.

"We have 150 volunteers on boards in this town," Carolann Garafola said. "And we have a responsibility to have a building environment that is accessible."