BLUE MOUNTAIN – Blue Mountain’s Town Hall, Library and Police Department are being upgraded from the inside out at no extra cost to the town, town officials said this week.

The three buildings are located next to each other under a single roof. The project, which costs about $18,000, began in early June and is expected to be completed this week, Mayor Doug Norton said recently.

In Town Hall, a new boardroom/courtroom has been constructed and carpeted, and furnished with the old table and chairs. The new room was built from what was a storage area of the building.

The city clerk’s office and the mayor’s office have been repaneled, painted and recarpeted as well.

A central heat and air system has been installed in the Town Hall, and will serve just that building.

The Police Department is being sheetrocked and recarpeted. The ceiling of the police station will be dropped by two feet, to eight feet. That’s the only building where the ceiling will be dropped.

The Library will receive a new awning and new shelving.

The front doors of all three places will be repainted and kickplates installed.

New awnings and shutters will grace the outside of the buildings, but town officials said – other than the doors - no new outside painting was required.

The renovations are the first since the town bought the building now used as Town Hall in the early 1990’s during the (former mayor) Bill Sanders era, Mayor Norton said.

“The work is being financed by money saved from the present budget. When the current administration took office, there was about $30,000 left in the Street Bond Fund. The work the bond fund was financing had been paid off. We advertised to drop the 20 mills which had been earmarked for that fund, and there was no opposition, so we did. We took half the remaining money and put it into a street maintenance fund, and put the other half into a building and renovation fund,” Mayor Norton said.

“The three buildings needed a facelift and an upgrade. We’ve had a lot of people comment that it was a long time coming,” the mayor said. The work will provide a more attractive environment for town employees to work. The new boardroom/courtroom will provide a place for aldermen to meet, or court to be held, without occupying the entire Town Hall. The new room will also give aldermen a place to deliberate in executive session when the need arises, the mayor said.

The work will likely save the town money, the mayor said.

“The central heating and air system will replace the four window units and four gas heaters we had been using. That will surely reduce our utility bills,” he said.