Glenburn has broken ground on a new town office that will put town services and the fire department on the same property, and allow municipal operations to move out of a cramped, 1950s building.
The new building, expected to open next year, will be a stone’s throw from the current office on Lakeview Road and will be connected to the town’s public safety building that houses the Glenburn Fire Department. Voters approved the proposal for the new office, which was years in the making, 54-3 at Glenburn’s annual town meeting in June.
The $1.6 million project will not require that the town raise its property tax rate. Funds will come from tax revenue the town has saved over the last decade, and Glenburn will not need to take out any loans.
Ground broke on the project in mid-August. The goal is for it to be complete by June 2022.
After years of trying to get a new town office — including residents’ rejection of previous efforts to build a standalone town office — many saw the plan to put municipal operations on the same property as the fire department as the most cost-effective solution, Glenburn Town Manager Daniel McClung said.
Along with several of the communities surrounding Bangor, Glenburn has seen population growth in recent years. The 2020 U.S. Census showed the town gaining more than 50 residents from 2010 to 2020, bringing the population to 4,648.
“I’m sure there’s going to be some sentimental people thinking that this was the only town office they ever knew,” McClung said. “But change is good when it comes to things like this.”
The current town office building was built in the 1950s as part of the Glenburn Ground to Air Transmitter site used by the U.S. Air Force, McClung said. The town of Glenburn acquired it and began using it as a town office around the early 1970s.
McClung said it was clear that a new location was needed, and the need became especially pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said coronavirus protocols were difficult to implement in its cramped quarters. For a time, only one resident was allowed in the office at a time.
The building will feature a new vault for vital town records as well as a new meeting space that officials are still designing. That space could have permanent seating for the Town Council and committees, McClung said, rather than the folding tables and chairs the town currently uses.
But the most significant change will be a better customer experience for residents, McClung said.
“There’s plenty of room for multiple customers to be waited on at one time,” McClung said.
As for the current town office, officials plan to use it for storage, including equipment and files. They have also toyed with the idea of converting it into a garage for town vehicles. The conversion would be fairly simple, as the U.S. Air Force once used part of the building as a garage.
Bangor-based Nichols Construction is the general contractor for the project and has started to clear the ground and put in a septic system at the site.