The green light has been given for a major renovation of Tecumseh's town hall.
Council unanimously approved the $3.4-million project Tuesday night which includes more office space for staff and a state-of-the-art council chamber.
Deputy mayor Joe Bachetti says, compared to other municipalities, Tecumseh has gotten off easy with keeping its town hall up to date having only spent $1.5-million on the building back in 2005.
"If you look at the past 20 years, our municipality, the Town of Tecumseh, has spend just over $4-million and we've got a great facility here in the town," says Bachetti. "Compared to other municipalities that go with a new build, you're looking at $10-million to $12-million. So we're very happy with our administrative and proud to give the go ahead."
He says the new council chamber will be top notch.
"There's a need in terms of employees, we have to give more office space in that regard," says Bachetti. "Also our council chambers here, we're going to have an open, more inclusive environment where people can come and be able to access our building. Besides going live streamed, we also want to make it friendly for people to come here and do business."
Tecumseh's deputy mayor Joe Bachetti seen after a council meeting on October 8, 2019 (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)
He tells AM800 News they're keeping the work local as well.
"We had over 12 submissions and it was very tight, but we're proud to have selected a local contractor, Elmara Construction, to take care of our renovations starting right after 'Christmas in Tecumseh'. They're ready to get started."
Construction will begin the final week of November.
The project is expected to wrap up in the summer of 2020.