Road crew considers new municipal building ‘Taj Mahal’
Centerville’s road crew calls the borough’s new municipal building their Taj Mahal. It’s not that the East End Road (Old National Pike) property is elaborate looking. It’s that the building is large and provides for an ideal home for a borough building and the fact the borough “practically stole” the building adds to its luster.
For the first time, every department in Centerville will operate under the same roof, as its six-acre property includes a large building with a five bay garage with workshop, nine rooms for office space, a large warehouse/storeroom with loading dock, a fenced in storage area for ash, sand and gravel and a large parking lot.
“The road crew calls it (the new building) their Taj Mahal, and if you saw the inside of the garage they are coming from, you’d understand why. These guys came from a very old, run down building,” said Mariann Bailey, building committee chairman.
But perhaps the best thing about the new borough building is the price.
According to Councilman Patsy Ricciuti, the borough purchased the building from Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania for $135,000.
He said the building, which has a 153-feet by 67-feet office area and a 48-feet by 91-feet garage, was appraised at $865,000.
“It was a steal,” said Ricciuti as he looked around the garage area. “The garage alone would cost a half- million to build.”
Councilman Lou Gajewski said Rep. J. Barry Stout (D-Bentleyville), Rep. Bill DeWeese (D-Waynesburg) and former U.S. Rep. Frank Mascara (D-Charleroi) were all instrumental in helping the borough obtain the building.
Ricciuti said Stout got the borough a $50,000 grant, DeWeese a $5,000 grant and Charter Cable gave $5,000 toward the borough’s new building project.
“I’d like to hold a grand opening, a big to-do and invite them all. I was hoping to get in here (the new building) a lot sooner, but the state rules and regulations are taking time,” Gajewski said.
Ricciuti said that council should move into the building by the end of February if the weather doesn’t call for the road crew to take to the roads.
The road crew has been doing all the renovation work, including electrical work, plumbing and construction between cleaning winter roads and other mandatory tasks.
Jim Greff, road crew supervisor, said that bad weather could delay the project until March or April.
“We’ll be in by mid-April without a doubt,” Ricciuti said.
Ricciuti said the borough saved $169,000 by having the borough’s road crew renovate the building and bring it to compliance with the state department of Labor and Industry requirements.
“We’re doing the work ourselves and our people have the skills to do it,” Ricciuti said. “I’m amazed at the work they are doing. These are the most versatile people I’ve ever laid eyes on. If there’s something that needs done, they can do it,” Ricciuti said.
Ricciuti said he can’t get over how much the borough made out on the new building purchase as a whole.
“We couldn’t beat this deal,” he said.
Ricciuti said the borough paid almost as much money ($125,000) for its current municipal building, which only sits on 2.5 acres and is half the size of the current building. He said the borough has been in the current building for almost 10 years.
Bailey said she is pleased with the new building and is happy the borough departments will no longer be “scattered around.”
“We have so much room. It’s so much better for the road crew and for the other employees. We have more room, which we desperately needed,” she said.
The new building has the space for the road crew and all its equipment and supplies, including space for all four dump trucks and five pick-up trucks. There is also a work station area. At present, the road crew works out of a separate garage not large enough to house all the trucks and equipment. The salt, ash and gravel were all kept in separate storage areas and the police vehicles have been kept outside.
The police department will now operate out of three offices, and will have a retention room, which it currently does not have. There is also enough space in the garage to house the police vehicle.
“That’s been rough (not having a retention area) on the police officers. They try to get them (criminals) booked while keeping an eye on them to be sure they are not trying to get away or do damage,” Bailey said.
The secretary has a large office in the front of the building and a separate office for filing. And there is a large meeting room for public meetings, including a kitchen area for lunch.
There is a separate room that Ricciuti said could be used for executive sessions and an extra room Ricciuti said the borough could rent out or install vending machines. There are also women and men’s bathrooms.
The new building is also ideal because, according to Ricciuti, Centerville, the second largest borough in southwestern Pennsylvania has the most modern equipment on this side of the state.
“None of our trucks are over three years old and we pay cash for them,” Ricciuti said.
The borough recently purchased a new $28,000 dump truck and a new tractor and plans to purchase a $26,000 police vehicle.
“We do good because we have a good board. We all work together.”