A packed chamber of residents attended the special meeting of Emmaus Borough Council Jan. 15 to hear about the purchase of the former Rodale, Inc. building at 33 E. Minor St.

In addition, the parking lot located at 10 E. Minor St. and a building located at 151 E. Minor St. were also included in the proposed acquisition.

The purchase price is $2.95 million.

The purpose is to relocate and consolidate all borough government operations to this location, including general administration, town hall, police, ambulance and fire operations.

Pepe's presentation, which can be found on the borough website at borough.emmaus.pa.us, gave a history of the project, provided advantages and disadvantages of the project, provided financial information and timelines.

According to Borough Manager Shane Pepe, council has been formulating a plan for a couple of years by budgeting money a little at a time to address building issues and improve operations.

The Rodale building came on the market in August 2014. Council members toured the building twice and asked Pepe to research the possibilities of purchasing the property versus repairing current buildings.

Council then hired Spillman Farmer Architects to do a feasibility study and Ray Geiger to appraise the Rodale property and the existing borough buildings.

Cindy Feinberg, of Feinberg Real Estate Associates was hired to broker a non-binding deal contingent upon council's vote.

The purchase price was negotiated by Feinberg and Pepe. Rodale agreed to not entertain any other offers for 30 days from Dec. 19, 2014 for council to schedule this presentation for the public and for a vote by council members.

Pepe reviewed the existing building needs at the Jan. 15 meeting.

Borough Hall, built in 1938, needs between $382,500 and $396,500 of work. The 12,647 square foot building is in need of a lower roof, windows, HVAC, basement improvement, elimination of fuse boxes, ADA compliance, security system and painting.

The police station, built in 2006, has 9,680 square feet. The total estimated costs to improve operations is between $74,000 and $1,074,000. Costs include additional storage, evidence room HVAC, security system replacement server, security camera replacement, reinsulation, expansion of the records/file room and parking garage expansion.

Central station, built in 1980, has 12,647 square feet. Additional work to the building is estimated to cost $105,100. The work includes roofing, storage, heating, HVAC, front ramp, rear driveway, trees, curbing, separate reporting area and rear driveway repairs.

The weight room has 1,000 square feet and is in need of a new roof in the next five years, heating and building upgrades for a cost of $27,000.

Estimated costs to adapt the 33. E. Minor St. building to the borough needs are $3,405,000. Pepe said if the public works department employees do some of the work, the estimated cost would be reduced to $2.5 million.

There are 104 parking spaces at the 33 E. Minor St. building with an additional 35 spaces at 10 E. Minor St. Work to the additional lot includes $5,000 for sealing and painting.

The house at 151 E. Minor St. is being included in the deal; it was not appraised and Pepe said it is not a property they would heavily invest in.

Disadvantages of the deal include a change of location for residents, railroad track challenges, no longer centered downtown, short-term costs, potential loss on police station investment and whether Seven Generations would continue to rent.

Advantages discussed included the consolidation of costs, operations, manpower and increased efficiency. The move would be a long-term investment, providing plenty of room for growth with plenty of parking.

The hope for a community center with rooms available for rent was also discussed. Additional benefits included improved security, better protection of classified information, plenty of storage and a cost saving in utilities and maintenance costs.

The new building would have 58,376 square feet which is 25,771 square feet larger than all four existing buildings combined with garages.

Pepe also worked with Geiger to determine what the cost would be to build a new building for the government center, estimated to be $17.4 million.

To pay for the purchase, it was suggested the borough consider a mortgage at 2 percent for 25 years.

Pepe said the borough would use rental income on the existing rental and additional unused space to pay for the property so residents would not see an increase in taxes.

Expected revenue from the existing borough buildings is estimated to be between $1.2 million and $1.8 million.

Pepe said there are additional properties the borough owns which could be sold.

Pepe suggested there would be no rush to move into the new building, suggesting to sell a building and use those funds for the next phase of the project.

Additional funding discussed included a government loan program and potential grants.

Pepe said the building could be paid off in 10 years if the borough "sticks to the plan" which includes expiring debt on buildings, equipment and bonds.

The five to 10 year plan would ease the cost of the project and stretch borough resources, Pepe said.

Department managers are in support of the project and believe centralized operations would make the borough more efficient. They did have a concern about the railroad tracks at Klines Lane, especially fire and ambulance personnel.

Residents spoke during public comment mostly with concerns about the railroad tracks, response time from emergency personnel and the costs involved in the project. Some noted the short notice of both the Rodale agreement and the scheduling of the public meeting.

"This central complex would be less central to the heart of Emmaus," one resident said.

Resident Dr. Mike Waddell thanked Pepe and council for the presentation, saying "thank you for considering this and thinking into the future."

Resident John Donches said he would have preferred to have the information sooner. "It's difficult to figure things out in 20 minutes." Donches has a concern with the existing school traffic including parent drop-off and pick-up throughout the day and bus traffic. Donches and others questioned whether the borough should be in the rental business.

Councilmen Nathan Brown and Brent Labenberg thanked the residents for attending and for their input.

Brown said he believes in the future of the borough. "I've been talking to my residents and thinking about this since August. It would benefit us for 100 years."

"I will support this," Labenberg said. "It will make the borough more efficient. Community rooms are sorely needed."

Councilman Roy Anders asked if the vote could be taken at the Jan. 19 meeting to allow more time for a decision. Council President Lee Ann Gilbert said the vote was needed Jan. 15.

In the end, council voted to enter into an agreement to purchase the property with a vote of 6-1 with Councilman Jeff Shubzda opposed.

Council now has 120 days from the signing of the purchase agreement to close on the property.

The borough will create a task force comprised of department managers, council members and members of the public to create and complete a plan and work with the architects to fully design the building.

See related story on Page A5.