Highlands Considering New Borough Complex to Replace Sandy-Damaged Structures

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By John Burton
HIGHLANDS – The spaces may be a bit tight, but borough employees are making do in their temporary work quarters, as officials continue to consider long-term remedies.
“It’s a little tight, but we’re doing OK,” said Jorgi Craig, a clerk for the borough’s sewer and finance departments who works in a large trailer at 42 Shore Drive, one of three locations the borough has been using since Super Storm Sandy wrecked borough hall in October 2012.
Elected officials are in the process of reviewing various options and cost estimates for a future borough complex to determine which will offer them the best possible plan. Once they make that determination, they will forward the plan to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for funding consideration.
“We’re not closing the door on any options,” said Borough Administrator Tim Hill, who hopes to have a more definitive direction for the rebuilding of borough facilities by next month. Under consideration are: Demolishing and rebuilding a facility at 171 Bay Ave., site of the extensively damaged former borough hall; repairing and refurbishing the existing structure; and seeking another location entirely.
The council hasn’t spoken publicly about which option it prefers at this point, Hill said.
Whichever direction the governing body decides to go for a permanent facility, it’s likely to be another two years before employees will be able to move into it, Hill said.
Each of the possibilities comes with a different set of challenges and costs. For instance, if the council decides to build a new structure or repair the existing site, it will likely mean having to elevate the building to the 500-year flood plain level outlined by FEMA for critical emergency structures. “That adds a whole nother layer of complexity of what we may want to do,” Hill said.
“I’m not saying which way the council is leaning,” he said.
It’s still too early to make any determination as officials await additional studies by the borough engineers and other professionals, according to Hill.
The 171 Bay Ave. site, built in 1960, was the location of all municipal offices, including police operations. Sandy inflicted extensive damage when it roared through the region, flooding the structure with more than a foot of water, causing structural damage.
HighlandsBoroHall-jb-IMG_0600“Anything and everything that was in its path” was wrecked, Hill said.
But, even before the storm, the aging facility was in bad shape with operations having outgrown the available space, Craig said.
Since the storm, municipal operations have been housed in three locations: 19 Bay Ave., where the administrator and construction offices are located in leased offices; trailers at 27 Shore Drive, a former borough parking area, where police are located; and a 60-foot long and 24-foot wide trailer at 42 Shore Drive that houses most of the municipal operations.
Police continue to use the Sea Bright police facility for holding prisoners and officials have entered into a shared service agreement with Atlantic Highlands for use of its municipal court.
“It’s very tight quarters,” Hill said his temporary office digs.
“It is much better than the firehouse where we started,” tax clerk Donna Conrad said.
Following the storm, Conrad and her colleagues initially were housed in a single room – with one computer ­– in the firehouse on Bay Avenue as they addressed the borough’s challenges as well as their own.
“We did amazing things” working in those cramped quarters, she said. “We learned to make do with what we had and didn’t have.”
“Sometimes it can be…” Hill said, while searching for the right word.
“…Loud,” answered Debby Dailey, deputy municipal clerk who also serves as payroll clerk.
The tight space can make working difficult, “especially when you’re on the phone,” Conrad said.
The restrooms also offer an additional concern. The temporary restrooms are small and with a limited water supply that can sometimes be insufficient. “Someone’s got to keep an eye on it” to make sure the water doesn’t go too low, Conrad said.
Pipes, particularly in the kitchen area, can rumble when the water is turned on, Hill said.
Space for storing records also is getting short, Conrad added.
“The borough staff has been very, very resilient through all of this,” Hill said. “They remain very upbeat, optimistic and a little humorous from time to time.”