The Shoshoni Town Council voted this week to accept an $835,500 bid to remodel its future town hall building.
The amount represents a decrease from last year, when bids for the project came in at over $1 million, Mayor Joel Highsmith said during a regular meeting last week.
The council held a special meeting Monday to go over the new round of bids that were solicited this year.
Highsmith recommended approving the bid from Caspar Building Systems during the Monday meeting, along with a $48,000 bid “alternate” that would cover the cost to install a raised platform in the new town hall chambers.
The town will pursue a loan from Wyoming Community Bank to help pay for the project, Highsmith said, and “we anticipate selling some real estate … to raise some of that money” as well.
“Every dime we make off real estate sales would go toward the debt,” police chief Chris Konija said.
The timeline for the project has the town occupying its new building by the end of November, he added.
Highsmith said construction is set to begin mid-April.
‘Heart of the town’
The council will have to pass a resolution approving the bank loan before it goes through, Konija said, and members of the public will have the opportunity to comment on the plan for the town hall remodel at that time.
He pointed out that, currently, Shoshoni’s library, police department and town offices are located in three separate buildings, and “we’re getting … butchered this year by utility costs.”
Once the remodel project is complete, Konija said all of those departments will operate under the same roof, allowing for a town hall that is “unified” and can serve as the “a town center … that would become the heart of the town.”
The move will also allow Shoshoni to sell its current town hall property, he pointed out, “opening this (lot) up for something else to be here.”
For more information call the Town of Shoshoni at 876-2515.