Town council has decided to seek more office space for municipal workers since the existing Town Hall is fully occupied.
At their July 31 meeting, councillors approved a motion to direct town administration to request quotes to acquire up to 1,500 additional square feet of office space.
"For the town to run properly, they need to have the full number of staff and we just don't have the space to hold all of it," said Mayor Brad Mapes later last week.
Mapes noted that some people might think that there are too many town workers, but he disagrees with that view.
Instead, the mayor said senior administrative officer Judy Goucher and her team have realized that for the town to run properly a full plate of positions is needed.
"We've added some positions, but we need space for people to work," said Mapes.
The Town Hall is already operating in leased space – the site of the former True Value Hardware in the Wright Centre. The town offices moved to that location in April 2015 after air quality concerns forced the closure of the old Town Hall in July 2014.
"The current rental space is considerably smaller than the space in the vacated Town Hall building," wrote Goucher in a background report for council. "Office space suited to the job is linked to increased productivity. At present, there are up to three positions with unsuitable office space."
That includes the development officer in the carpentry building in the Industrial Area, the recreational programmer, and the to-be-hired recreation director.
In addition, when the old Town Hall was deemed uninhabitable, all of the town's land maps were relocated to the carpentry building, where there is no sprinkler system and the filing cabinets for the maps are not fireproof.
"These documents were previously stored in a fireproof vault," wrote Goucher.
The SAO recommended that, since there are no immediate plans to replace the Town Hall building, the municipality should request quotes to see what space is available, at what cost and for a term of up to five years.
Mapes thinks the issue of a new Town Hall building is going to have to be discussed in the future.
"I definitely don't think it's going to come up in this term, but it will come up in the coming terms," he said. "Personally, I think it makes fiscal sense for the town to own their own building. They shouldn't be leasing anything. I think that we have to get that solved."