MECHANICSVILLE - The Borough of Mechanicsville will be opening its first borough hall in a building owned by a former fire company later this year, according to borough solicitor William J. Burke.
"They're going to work on it. It will be a meeting hall, a community center. Probably by summertime," Burke said at the borough's March meeting at Avenues at 2 Park St.
Burke said rest rooms will be among the amenities included.
"All the pipes are there," said council President Robert Womer, referring to the building, a red pole building with white doors in the 900 block of First Street.
Jack Sohosky, who's lived in the borough since 1981 and was at Wednesday's meeting, praised the council for working to establish its first borough hall.
"It's something they needed. Right now, I think they have some of their trucks sitting in it. Those trucks were sitting out for years and those pickups would rust," Sohosky said.
The pole building was built in 2010, according to the online Schuylkill Parcel Locator.
In late 2012, the borough started work to buy the pole building from the former Mechanicsville Hose Company.
According to the Schuylkill Parcel Locator, Mechanicsville Borough bought the building from the fire company on Nov. 30, 2012, for $25,000.
While the deed was written in November, the borough didn't close the deal until the end of February, Thomas "Tim" Pellish, Pottsville, solicitor for the fire company, said Tuesday.
To finance the project, the borough had to take an $18,750 loan from National Penn Bank, Pottsville.
At Wednesday's meeting, the council decided to make payments of $200 per month to pay off the loan.
The rest of the building cost came from borough funds, according to borough Secretary/Treasurer Beverly Riotto.
The future borough hall does not have a number address yet but it will eventually, Riotto said.
"The borough office has been out of my home since I became secretary in 2006. What else do you do when you have a 200-household borough," Riotto said.
Originally a part of the Borough of Port Carbon, the Borough of Mechanicsville was incorporated as a borough by a decision confirmed by Schuylkill County Court on Jan. 5, 1914, according to the "Joseph H. Zerbey History of Pottsville and Schuylkill County," published in 1936.
Riotto said the borough's population is 457.
In a related matter, the council voted not to buy another property owned by the former fire company, a vacant community center at 927 Norwegian St. known as "The Hut."
It was built in 1950, according to the parcel locator.
In July 2010, Mechanicsville Hose Company, the borough's only fire company, closed after 107 years of service due to a lack of volunteers and funds.
"We're selling the properties and putting the funds in a trust account. There's one more building they have to sell yet. That's 'The Hut.' And upon selling that and upon paying all their debts, we'll petition the court for the closing of the fire company and the funds, whatever is left, will be dispersed to other charities, which will, most likely, be other fire companies," Pellish said.
There are traces of asbestos in the building's tiles but abatement shouldn't be costly, according to James Tohill, the borough engineer, who was at the meeting Wednesday.
Council members Richard Prestileo and John Evans believed the borough should buy the building for $5,000 and spend another $10,000 to knock it down.
"I say buy it. Get rid of the eyesore," Prestileo said.
Council members Cindy L. Bohr, Colleen Coulson and John Mestishen said the borough doesn't have the money to do it.
"You're forgetting, we need money to fix up the building we have our trucks in now. You want to push money into there, and now you want to spend $15,000 to tear down 'The Hut?' Where are we getting the money from? Can't raise people's taxes because you want to buy 'The Hut' and tear it down. We're not going to go for that," Bohr said.
Bohr made a motion the borough not buy "The Hut." It was seconded by Coulson and supported with a vote from Mestishen.
In a roll call vote, Prestileo and Evans voted "no" on the motion.
Womer abstained from the vote.
"I have to abstain, I guess," Womer said.
"No. You don't have to. Why would you have to do that?" Burke asked.
"Because I said I would," Womer said.
After the meeting, when asked for clarification on the reason why he decided to abstain, Womer said: "I wanted to."
Council member Janelle Bohr was absent from Wednesday's meeting.
In other business, council decided to reimburse Mayor James Wesnoski for a day of lost wages, since he took a day off from work to clear snow from the streets.
"In order for him to be compensated, he would have gotten paid if he was at work, it's actually a total of 15 hours. And Jim doesn't get paid anything for plowing," Riotto said.