Town Council OKs new building for Hertford public works

Town employees in Hertford who are responsible for patching up, replacing and maintaining the town’s property are about to get a new place to work.

Hertford Town Council agreed at its Feb. 26 meeting to replace the town’s Public Works Administration building at 142 Meads Circle with a new building estimated to cost $411,860.

Town Manager Janice Cole said the new structure is needed because the current building is in terrible shape and has a roof that is not repairable.

In anticipation of the new facility, town staff have already cleared the nearby lot where it will be constructed.

Town Council chose Sunbury-based Classic Steel Buildings, who submitted a bid of $411,860, to construct the new building. Funding for the new building will come from two sources, $311,860 from the town’s fund balance and $100,000 from the town’s electric fund.

The current Public Works Administrative building currently houses only the town’s public works administrative staff. The new building will provide space for a lot more public works employees.

“The new building will be large enough to house all of the public works division — the administrative department, street department and eventually the water department,” Cole said.

She said the current Public Works Administrative building will be demolished.

“This is another step towards fulfilling the town’s Riverfront Plan that moves that (public works) division out of the old ice plant, making that area available for relocation and expansion of Missing Mill Park,” Cole said.

In other business, Town Council agreed to keep Martin Starnes and Associates of Hickory as the town’s auditing firm. Ashley Eure, town finance director, recommended retaining the firm for this year’s town audit.

“We would like to use same firm we used the last two years,” she said. “They understand what we do, where we are at. We have great relationship with them, they have working papers from the years before.”

The contract calls for the town to pay Martin Starnes and Associates $53,075.

“The price did go up a little bit but that’s because of the grants we had,” Eure said.

Eure and the town were also recognized during the meeting by the N.C. League of Municipalities.

Perry James, a senior senior consultant with the NCLM, presented Eure a certificate for completing specialized training offered by the nonprofit organization’s accounting services program.

He also presented Mayor Ashley Hodges a certificate recognizing Hertford for the “pursuit of excellence in municipal financial management” following the town’s completion of a software conversion “designed to strengthen the town’s fiscal operation.”