The Dorr Township Board Thursday evening voted to hire one or two consultants to help configure where offices and rooms will be arranged inside the new township hall that was the former home of Crosswinds Church on 142nd Avenue.

Board members, keenly aware of running out of enough space to do business in the building at the corner of 142nd Avenue and 18th Street, agreed to buy the old church site for $600,000, using a lot of federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

In their March building they discussed briefly where offices and rooms will be dispersed, but came to no decision about how to proceed. This time, Clerk Debbie Sewers put a lot of pressure on colleagues to begin determining where the clerk, treasurer, assessor, supervisor and office manager will be located, along with a work room and a conference room.

However, Supervisor Jeff Miling said it would be wise to have someone with experience in configuring the inside of buildings to help decide where things and services will go.

“I would feel a lot more confident with that to get us some good ideas,” Miling said, suggesting it’s better to make adjustments before township officials move in. 

Trustee John Tuinstra agreed, “Sometimes people who do a lot of this come up with the some pretty good ideas.”

The only problem with the proposal is that it would cost the township up to $2,000 for the services from consultants.

But another problem is with what will happen to the Then & Now Historical Library across the street at the downtown intersection. The library, essentially a free service, has been using the building rent free and utilities paid for more than a few years.

“It may be time for Then & Now to start helping to carry the (financial) load,” Tuinstra said. 

Miling replied that library staff is all volunteer and it provides a useful service, not only to Dorr Township, but also many people who live in West Michigan.

“I feel honored that they’re in our township,” he said, insisting it is a different animal because it’s not a business and its purpose is not to make money.

Officials discussed putting the historical library somewhere inside the former church building as well, but no decision was made.

Then & Now moved into what used to be the site of the Dorr Township Library when it had a new facility built on 18th Street. The site also was the Dorr Township Hall until 1990, when township officials took up residence with the fire department at the current township hall, which now is too small to handle township business and the fire department.

COVER PHOTO: The Crosswinds Church building, which soon will be home to Dorr Township.