Residents question Thorpe move Borough wants to move offices to Memorial Hall

Residents continued to pepper Jim Thorpe’s borough council Thursday night over its proposed plan to relocate borough offices to a portion of the top floor of Memorial Hall, while the police department would occupy the bottom level.

The building plan, which also includes the demolition of the borough’s current public works garage and construction of a new facility, is the focal point of Jim Thorpe’s 2018 budget.

The spending plan calls for a 2.01-mill tax increase, which amounts to an extra $140.10 for a property owner with the median home value of $139,400.

Sherry McHugh told council she had a petition signed by between 400 and 500 borough residents who did not want offices relocated to the venue.

“The main purpose of the hall is to be here for the community,” McHugh said. “Leave the decision up to the people.”

McHugh’s husband Jim was the most recent manager of Memorial Hall, before a month-to-month lease with the borough ended in January.

Sherry said Jim constantly fought negativity from council when trying to fill bookings for the hall.

“Jim brought the residents back, even while a council member was trying to actively sell the hall,” Sherry said.

Council has repeatedly pointed out the $320,000 it has used to subsidize Memorial Hall over the past five years, though Jim McHugh said things had been on the uptick.

“When I took over the hall, I told council we need two years of positivity to make a turnaround happen,” he said. “In year one, we had one of the best years in a decade, losing only $31,000, of which $12,000 to $15,000 went right back into the building for improvements.”

In 2015, however, rumors of council’s potential sale of the building put a damper on bookings. By 2016, things were looking better again, with the venue having its best year in the previous 12, though still losing $17,000.

Councilman Curtis Jackson said the facilities decision was a “tough one,” but a large part of Memorial Hall would still be available for functions.

According to the borough’s proposal, it would be using one-third of the current top floor for offices.

The seating for events in Memorial Hall would go from around 600 to between 200 and 250, according to a feasibility study.

Keith McQuait, American Legion Post 304 commander, said Legion members are unanimously opposed to Memorial Hall being used for offices.

“I think there should be another attempt to try and solve some of the money problems,” he told council Thursday.

Currently, the borough office and police department share a building, built in 2010, along East 10th Street next to Memorial Park.

The borough would look to lease that building.

Council is also looking to demolish the current public works garage, also located at Memorial Park, and build a new one on property the borough owns across from the water department on West Broadway.

“The area in which the garage is now would then be given back to the park following the demolition,” Jackson said.

Cost estimates provided by Spillman Farmer include $1.5 million for the new public works garage, $650,000 to relocate the borough office to Memorial Hall, $1.5 million to relocate the police department to Memorial Hall, $75,000 to renovate Memorial Hall, $250,000 for site improvements and $50,000 to demolish the old public works garage.

The borough will vote on its budget at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 28.

“Right now, our plan is to move forward with the proposal,” Strubinger said Thursday night.