Cumberland County Highway Department making plans to move the highway department office and facilities at Northside Drive.
Mayor Allen Foster said a few years back the garage and the building at the old department were in shambles. He said the road superintendent at that time came to the commission for help with getting a new building.
“There’s a much larger area over there with other buildings and the new road superintendent would like to move some things around and get things set up differently,” Foster said. “So that’s what we’re going to work on. There’s a building over there that he wants to take over, so we’re going to get a plan together to work on all that.”
Foster said the building sits on a 9-acre tract near the election commission. He said the Highway Department will be able to house its materials and equipment in a winterized spot, extending the life of the equipment.
Additionally, Foster said the superintendent’s office is far away from his employees. Foster said he will be able to move closer to employees and that will also improve communications.
“This happened a few years ago where we knew we had to act immediately and so we had leased the building and then ended up buying the property a bit later,” Foster said. “So he’s already in a much-improved building that works well for him, but this is just going to move him around some more so we can take advantage of the large space we have at the site.”
Foster said the next steps will be to sit down with the road superintendent and maintenance director to get cost estimates. He said they will then take it to the commission to get cost estimates.