FORTVILLE — The Vernon Township trustee and her staff are settling into their new offices and continue to entertain offers for their former downtown location.
The new offices are at 700 W. Broadway, in the building where Seals Ambulance currently has its headquarters.
The relocation ties in with construction of the township’s new fire station on nearby Vitality Drive. The township bought the Broadway Street property and several others under May’s predecessor, James Nolte, when it was considering plans for the new station.
Construction on the 14,000-square-foot facility began last summer. It’s expected to open by June. The Fortville-Vernon Township Volunteer Fire Department will move out of the town’s municipal building. and into the new station. Paid firefighters will work out of the station as well.
The trustee’s office to the nearby Seals building because it needs the extra space, May said. The downtown office’s meeting area was smaller than the new location’s entryway. The office, at 104 N. Main St., was so small that staff often had to work off site.
The new location has a large meeting space, two offices and space for storing records, May said, adding its parking lot has far more spaces than the two available at the former location.
May and township trustee staff work part time. The staff is made up of a deputy, public safety director and community engagement director.
There will be even more room for the trustee’s office after Seals Ambulance moves out of its part of the building and into the new fire station, May said. Seals’ billing department formerly occupied the part of the building the trustee’s office now operates in, but it no longer needed the space after the company merged with Priority Ambulance.
The trustee’s office had been in the downtown location since the 1990s, May said.
She and the township board were also motivated to move and sell the downtown office because of the surge in retail on Main Street.
"We took note that the best use for that property would be for us to sell it so it can be an active part of the Main Street community," May said. "…We want to see Main Street thrive and we just think it’s more appropriate."
The downtown property was open for public inspection last week and will be on two more occasions later this month. May said it’s been garnering a lot of Realtor and local interest.
The township is also selling another property bought during Nolte’s search for a new fire station: 726 W. Broadway St., formerly CP Autosport.
The township will receive bids for both properties at the new trustee office through 2 p.m. May 20. More details are available on the township’s website, vernontownship.us, under "News."
May said the legal standard of highest bid and best use will be applied when determining to whom to sell the properties.
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Public inspection of properties for sale
104 N. Main St., Fortville
9 a.m. to 11 a.m. April 22 and 30
726 W. Broadway St., Fortville
9 a.m. to 11 a.m. April 23
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