Borough Engineer Ryan Christman discussed his estimates on costs for the municipal building at Coplay council’s workshop meeting Sept. 1. With a heavy schedule of necessary, but short-term, repairs to the existing municipal building, council asked Christman to investigate preliminary costs.

Christman compared the cost of a full-scale remodel of the existing building versus demolishing the building and erecting a new building.

“The figures are very preliminary, but we are looking at $627,000 for revamping the existing building and close to $2,000,000 for a new building,” he said.

Anticipating some costs for relocating and temporary operations, Councilman Charles Sodl summed up the costs.

“We are looking at a $2-to-$1 ratio of new versus old,” he said. “At least at this point, we know where we are and have an estimate of the costs involved.”

According to Christman, the costs did not include public works facilities. Council proposed purchasing the property known as General Supply to house offices and garages for public works. Later in the meeting, Councilman Joseph Groller in his financial report noted that purchasing the General Supply property could be handled without any tax increase for residents. Council will review its options on how to proceed with improvements to the borough’s municipal facilities in light of the new information.

Councilman Charles Sodl presented costs for installing a generator for municipal services. The project developed from a concept during the last major storm to a proposal to be voted on during the next council meeting. According to Sodl, the size of the generator increased to serve the entire municipal complex. “We upped the size to 50 KW from 40 KW. The generator cost a little more, but we saved on the installation. If there is a power loss, we can just throw a switch and be able to power the whole building,” he said.

The original plan called for power to limited sections of the building.

Police Chief Vincent Genovese supported the effort.

“When we have a power outage, we can’t charge radios or communicate with patrol cars,” he said. “When we are needed the most, we can’t support the public.”

The borough is looking into processing insurance claims for damages to its buildings. The storm damage is estimated at $150,000 with insurance covering a portion of the cost. Pennsylvania declared a state of emergency after the latest storm. There could be state assistance available to help recover some of the repair costs.

As borough Secretary Sandra Gyecsek indicated, the process of filing the claims and recovering the funds could take up to six months.