Leighton Township officials Thursday night voted to proceed with plans to have a new township hall built adjacent to the Leighton District Library.

Supervisor Steve Deer said the final  bill for a new hall would be about $1.8 million and Treasurer Chart Troost reported that the township could borrow $600,000 using an investment agreement purchase to avoid having to seek a bond. The loan could be for up to 15 years.

Deer said he’d like to schedule a public meeting either later this month or early next month to let residents know all about what is in the works. The supervisor also said he wants to have a consruction manager selected next month, have estimates refined into quotes and take bids for a project by March. The hope is to start construction sometime in April 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.

Treasurer Char Troost said last summer the township has $530,000 in its capital improvements fund and it has more than $700,000 in its general fund balance. However, she added it is not wise to drain all of the fund balance for obvious reasons.

Township officials indicate they don’t want to wait too long because right now United Bank is offering to finance such a project at 2.25 percent for at least 10 years.

Clerk Mary Lou Nieuwenhuis for some time now 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.

Trustee John Hooker noted that Leighton this year alone has seen an increase of $10.7 million in new business and residential startups and he doesn’t foresee that slowing down soon.

“When the current building was built in 1984, we were told that we would never need any more room for at least 20 years,” Hooker said. The hall is 31 years old.

Township officials are stressing they intend to move forward with the process of building a new township hall, but they want to get the best bang for the buck and reduce the expense as much as possible.

PHOTO: The Leighton Township Library will be the next door neighbor to the new township hall under current and continuing plans.