New Leighton Twp. Hall will be ready for Nov. 8 election

Leighton Township voters will be able to use the new township hall for the Nov. 8 general election, according to Clerk Mary Lou Nieuwenhuis.

Work on the new offices, an addition to the Leighton District Library in Moline, is proceeding apace and “Moving Day” for township officials has been scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 18. All township business will be conducted at that site afterward.

The old township hall, meanwhile, is being converted into an expansion of the fire station, which currently shares the space on Kalamazoo Avenue just north of 144^th Avenue.

Township officials last year voted to vacate the current site for new digs because everything was just too crowded. The old hall went into operation more than 30 years ago.

Leighton District Library Director Karen McKinnon told board members the library somehow survived the chaos of the construction over the past spring and summer. She said the summer reading program and special events such as Zootopia and a visit by a magician went off without any trouble.

As part of the process of moving into the new offices, the Township Board Thursday evening agreed to about $40,000 in bank payments, $80,000 in perishables and $80,000 in construction not included in the original contracts.

In other business Thursday night, the board:

• Approved the fire department’s request to buy a couple of generators for about $11,000. Making the purchase now is believed to save the department about $2,000 and provide an extended warranty of 10 years. The purchase is contingent on having enough money in the public safety fund.
• Noted that 25 building permits have been approved for the year 2016 thus far, with a combined value of about $6 million.
• Announced the second delay of final signing of the deal for the sale of Moline Elementary to Steve Austin and the deal for some adjacent property to go to the township.

“We’re still waiting… we’ve had closings canceled a couple of times,” Nieuwenhuis said.

“We still think it will happen,” reassured Supervisor Steve Deer.