With little comment, Mount Laurel Council votes to spend $5.48M to move town hall to office building.

Pat Halbe stood before Mount Laurel Township Council on Monday night, challenging members on their plan to move town offices to a vacant office building the Township is buying for $5.48 million.

"It is probably one of the worst ideas I've heard of," said Halbe, who served as Township clerk for 23 years and Township manager for 12 years before retiring in 2011.

At the end of the February 6 meeting, the Council, all Democrats, had voted unanimously in favor of the plan in the first of two required votes. The second and final vote was Monday night.

Neither of the two ordinances — one authorizing the purchase and the other authorizing bond borrowing — was on the February agenda. Council went into closed session at the end of that meeting and emerged to vote on the two ordinances authorizing the deal. The meeting was adjourned after the votes.

On Monday, Halbe was the only member of the public to comment. Council members then voted unanimously in favor of each ordinance, making the moves final. Council members did not publicly discuss the purchase Monday night or at the February 6 meeting.

"A lot of people don't know about it because it was done after the closed session of the last meeting," Halbe told Council at the Monday meeting. She urged Council to table the ordinances for further discussion.

70and73.com revealed the purchase plan in a February 14 news article.

A day later, a news release with the heading "Mount Laurel Township Announces Purchase of New Municipal Building" touting the deal was posted on the Township website. The release has several Township officials lauding the purchase, noting "a new facility would have brought a significantly higher cost to the Township compared to the final purchase price of this building." 

The news release, which suggested the deal was complete and arrangements were being made for a move of Township offices, did not disclose that a public hearing on the plans would be held on March 6 before the Council's final decision.

Mount Laurel officials claim to have run out of space at the Mount Laurel Road municipal complex, which includes Township offices, the police department and municipal court. The library is next door and the large Mount Laurel Community Center is at the back of the complex.

The move would relocate Township offices about four miles to the north to the Centerton office complex. The empty 750 Centerton Road office building the Township is buying has nearly 80,000 square feet of space. 

The police department and the court would remain at the municipal complex, which opened in the late 1960s and was later expanded. The community center also would stay open, according to the Township.

"We are genuinely bursting at the seams," Mayor Stephen Steglik said at Monday night's meeting.

"You're not," Halbe responded from the audience.

After the meeting, Halbe told 70and73.com that she could not figure out why Council believes it needs to move some offices. 

She said all of the Township services now are near each other. She said the second floor of the community center building was not in use and some offices could be moved there to alleviate any space crunch.

Halbe said the Township will need to renovate the vacant building and move offices there, adding to the overall cost.

Township Attorney George M. Morris, of the Parker McCay law firm, told 70and73.com on Tuesday morning that the building is accessible to the disabled. Morris coordinated the purchase for the Township.