A Lakeshore councillor will bring two motions to council Tuesday night, as he looks for a report from administration on what it would take to build a new town hall.
The first motion would direct administration to bring a report to council with updates on the steps required to complete a concept plan for a new town hall, including recommendations for location and required land assembly.
The second motion would direct administration to create a town hall advisory committee, with representation from council and administration, to further the planning for town hall.
Ward 1 councillor Ryan McNamara says there's been discussion in the past about what administration would recommend for a new town hall, but there's never been a clear a direction.
"For me the important thing is the understanding of what is needed from a land perspective. Do we have a municipal asset that we can utilize to get something that has the overall capacity and size or do we have to go out and look at land acquisition. So I think those things are important right now of understanding what's required so that we can put the plan together, because at the end of the day it's going to be long term financing."
He says he's heard from residents that are frustrated with the processes to gain permits, having to go back and forth between the operations centre and town hall.
"Whether it's a developer or an individual who needs services from the town to have a single point to do that. I also look at what the work environment is for our municipal employees and right now we are def getting to the point of space constrained, so that we need to also look at do we have the space for the people that we need to provide the services that the residents expect."
He says when it comes to where a new town hall could be located, he's open to suggestions but says the current site, located at 419 Notre Dame Street in Belle River is landlocked.
"There's only one open property on that block that we could potentially add and I don't know if that would be enough to build a facility that services the needs of ratepayers as well as the municipal staff."
McNamara says he's hopeful to get the report back this year, so they have it for before budget deliberations next year to figure out how to finance it.
-With files from AM800's Rob Hindi