College Township is moving forward with planning for renovations to its 30-year-old municipal building.
Township Council on Thursday authorized staff to complete negotiations with Kimmel Architecture to perform architectural and engineering services needed for project design, bidding and construction. Kimmel Architecture has proposed a fee of $151,800, and council approved an amount not to exceed $155,000 for the final contract. The township’s 2026 budget included $175,000 earmarked for the architectural and engineering services.
The township worked with the company in 2025 to complete a needs assessment and conceptual design study for the township building, which is located at 1481 E. College Ave. and houses most municipal departments other than public works operations.
“Growing community, growing staff, we’ve just reached a point where our spatial needs, our operational needs have called on us to look at the facility and ways to make it more efficient for both the community and the staff moving forward,” Assistant Township Manager Mike Bloom said.
The study determined that the existing building can accommodate current and future needs, but that renovations and a redesigned floor schematic will improve efficiency for staff and the public.
That boils down to one of our highest traffic areas is currently on the second floor of the building, and that’s not really ideal in terms of customer service,” Bloom said.
Kimmel Architecture’s proposal letter indicates that the first and second floor will be renovated, and that the work will be phased by floor so that the township can maintain occupancy during the work.
“This proposal assumes that both phases will be completed within a 12-month period, from award to closeout,” according to the letter.
Municipalities are not required to go through a bidding process for professional services, which are typically awarded through a direct appointment or request for proposals. Bloom noted that Kimmel did go through an RFP process for the needs assessment phase.
“Given the existing relationship with Kimmel Architecture, given the fact that they were well-qualified and performed well during the first part of this process and given that they were selected through a competitive RFP process, we’re very comfortable with them,” Bloom said. “And it also helps that they’re in under budget as to what what we had put forward.”
Council also appointed a Municipal Building Renovation Committee consisting of Councilman Rich Francke and four staff members to work directly with Kimmel Architecture on the architectural and engineering phase.
