TOLEDO, Ohio — Debate continues over what to do about the old Washington Township office building on Blessing Drive.
Operations were moved permanently over to the fire department on Shoreland Avenue in July. But now trustees are looking at selling the old building.
Some residents, like Donald Barto, are not on board.
"Unless we have another place to move everything, selling this building is jumping the gun," he said.
That's how he and several others feel about the township trustees moving forward with selling the old Blessing Drive building. Barto, who is also running for trustee, says he doesn't believe it's been planned out.
"The way it's laid out, we're losing half of our tow lot back there," he said. "That's one main concern from me. The other is our roads department. This garage is packed, the other garage is packed."
Back in July, the trustees used around $40,000 to move township, roads and police department offices over to the fire station. This was after they explored options of repairing the building, moving to the fire station or buying a lot on Summit Street to build a new township hall.
But in August, they voted 2 to 1 to make the move to the fire station permanent.
Former trustee Jerry Mayfield says the only necessary repairs are the roof and the HVAC system.
"We originally have quotes for a complete roof replacement on the entire structure of $62,000," he said, "and we got a quote of replacing the air condition and heater for $7500."
But current trustee Kelly Schlachter says it needs closer to $150,000. The Lucas County Auditor's Office values the entire property -- which was given to the township years ago -- at $235,000. But Schlachter says the repairs bring down the value. And they're only looking to sell the main office building, not the whole property, which is why they're only asking for a minimum bid of $75,000.
"Anything coming from that is going to be a profit into our pocket," she added, "and we simply don't have that kind of money to fix up that building and make it into what our employees deserve."
Schlachter believes operations are going well at the fire station and they are no longer looking at buying land for a new facility. She says they are consolidating operations to save money because they are seeing a growing number of capital needs, such as the 911 consolidation, which she says is now going to cost around $100,000, up from $70,000.
But Mayfield believes more time is needed to make the right decision.
"Just the way they're going about it, that if you really look at all the facts and figures and see all the problems that are involved in selling this building," he said, "you're creating more problems and expenses than you're fixing."
Any interested buyers have until Tuesday to submit a bid. Trustees will open any sealed bids at the next scheduled meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Shoreland fire station.