The Leighton Township Board Thursday evening decided to borrow $800,000 from United Bank to help finance construction of a new township hall at the site of the district library.

The board originally intended to borrow $600,000, but learned a better interest rate, 2.2 percent, could be secured with the higher figure.

The final bill for a new hall would be about $1.8 million and the loan could be for up to 15 years. The hope is to start construction sometime this spring and have it completed by December 2016.

Township officials have been considering the move for some time because the current hall is just too small to handle township business and meetings and the operations of the fire department. So another part of the plan would be to spend about $262,000 for a fire department truck bay and let the department take over all of the old hall.

Architect for the project is Dan Bode of The Architecture Group (TAG) of Grand Rapids.

The township hall and fire station now is located on Kalamazoo Avenue, just north of 144^th Avenue and just south of Green Lake. The new hall’s 12-acre site, township officials believe, would be much more centrally located in the township, it already is land the township owns and it would be a good fit with the library adjacent.

Clerk Mary Lou Nieuwenhuis for some time has said the current township hall, built in 1984, just isn’t big enough any more to handle the clerk’s, treasurer’s and supervisor’s records. She said because the township has grown so much in the last 20 years, the needs are greater, particularly in providing adequate space for meetings and for elections.

PHOTO: The current site of the Leighton Township Library.