BrandonInfo.com

Work already has begun on changing the old fire station meeting room into a City Council chambers. The kitchen and bathrooms will stay as they are, but the big pass-through window from the kitchen to the big room has been closed off. The door from the big room to the garage area is also closed off. The city is keeping the city transit bus and some police cars in the garage area.

In the big room, there will be a raised seating area on the south wall for the Council members to sit, so the audience can see them better. Most of the room will be carpeted.

City Administrator Dennis Olson said the proposed 2008 budget includes money to install sound and video in the Council chambers. But the budget hasn’t been approved yet.

The current Council chambers would be turned into office space and a conference room. Olson said the south end of the room would be split into two offices, one for Assistant City Administrator Nick Lanning, and one for Dan Oakland, who contracts with the city to do human resource duties. None of the city staff would have offices in the old fire hall.

Olson said he thinks the plan will be a good way to make more room for the Council and the public for the next five or six years.

Do you agree?