The mayor wants to move town offices to the old Elks lodge on South Main Street.
Easels fill the mayor's office, each with a commercial or municipal project Phillipsburg has in the works.
One is marked as a top priority: Relocate the municipal building.
Clipped below the label is a photograph of the old Elks lodge on South Main Street. That's where, if the town offices need to move to avoid mold, Mayor Stephen Ellis wants to go.
"It's an iconic building," he said Thursday.
Relocating the municipal building is listed as a top priority among the projects in the office of Phillipsburg Mayor Stephen Ellis. A picture of the former Elks lodge on South Main Street is clipped below the reminder. (Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com) Phillipsburg's town hall was downtown once before, moving to the current address at 675 Corliss Ave. when the Lovell Building was demolished in the 1970s. A return to that area has been pitched at least twice in the last few years.
"I believe ... that that's the key to revitalizing the downtown," Town Council President Todd Tersigni said at a meeting in May 2016, citing a 2014 Express-Times story in which he made a similar proposal. No formal action was taken either time, but the sentiment was largely met with agreement from councilmen present at last spring's meeting.
Mold may finally force the move.
Mold found at Phillipsburg town hall
A recent environmental analysis of the Corliss Avenue municipal building found a risk to anyone with respiratory issues or other ailments, specifically in the basement and where council meetings and municipal court are held on the second floor. Since then, Alpha has hosted court and town meetings have moved to various locations.
Ellis said that the council on Monday -- in a meeting held in the town hall's first floor lobby -- approved a $12,000 analysis of three options:
- Repair the current building.
- Build a new town hall.
- Adapt an existing building for municipal use.
Ellis said he anticipates the first two options will cost several million dollars and would be unfair to taxpayers: "I can't imagine building new when the town is in the midst of a renaissance."
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The five-floor, 30,000-square foot Elks building at 75 S. Main St. was assessed last year at $1.7 million, according to property records. It already has an unemployment office on the ground floor, which Ellis said he would like to keep.
The mayor's plans for the building include offices and a police substation on the first and second floors, the courtroom and council chambers -- including the current dais -- on the third floor, and possibly a public space like a banquet hall on the fourth, though some renovation would be required.
There are some complications, however: The building is for sale, and there's no way of knowing at this point if the town's contracted study will recommend moving as the best option.
But Ellis was optimistic about moving, saying the presence will help the area.
"All of a sudden there's this spurt in the businesses downtown," he said.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.