Town Hall renovations prepare for July bicentennial celebration

by Melissa Martin

Feb. 18 township trustees meeting

Hinckley Township officials approved nearly $14,000 in renovations to Hinckley Town Hall in light of the township’s upcoming bicentennial celebration, being planned for Saturday, July 17.

The board approved a contract with Ivanov Construction to prep the walls of town hall’s administrative office for painting and to remove the glass wall and door from the space.

“This half-wall and glass partition over here we’re going to have removed so that when people walk in, they actually know they can go into the administrative offices,” said Trustee Monique Ascherl.

The board also selected Zufall Do-It-All to paint the inside of town hall, the senior room and the front office at the fire department at a cost not to exceed $12,000.

Trustee Jack Swedyk said the township received multiple bids on that portion of the project and elected to accept Zufall’s bid because it was a fair price given the amount of work.

Ascherl agreed, saying the work, particularly at town hall, is long overdue.

“I’m assuming [the painting was done around] the same time frame that the carpet was laid,” she said. “I just found out today it’s been about 20 years for the carpet. … So it’s probably about 20 years [since the paint has] been updated. It’s held up, but it’s definitely time to clean it up, especially since we have a big celebration here this year.”

Ascherl also pointed out that there is limited wall space remaining inside town hall to add additional Citizen of the Year photos. As a result, she said, township officials are considering reallocating that wall space for a 200-year timeline of Hinckley Township.

That timeline, Ascherl said, would feature approximately 20 to 25 noteworthy historic moments that would be plotted along the timeline.

“I already started looking at acrylic images and started to price some of that stuff out,” Ascherl said, noting that she hopes the timeline project will be completed before the township’s celebration this summer. “I think that it is important to everyone in the township, knowing the history.

As for the Citizen of the Year photos, Ascherl said, those would be returned to the families of the individuals honored over the years.

State Rep. Sharon Ray recently presented a bicentennial resolution from the statehouse to Hinckley Township. As part of the Feb. 18 meeting, trustees agreed to donate the resolution to the Hinckley Historical Society to display at the bicentennial celebration this summer.

In other news, the board also approved:

·  A motion for Nelson Electrical LLC to update all lighting inside the fire station, removing all ballasts and using existing fixtures, at a cost not to exceed $4,314. ·  A motion for Cheetah Floor Systems to clean and reseal all floors in the fire station at a cost not to exceed $1,184.