Zorra Municipal Office Moving to New Location this Week

Monday, 27 May 2024 06:51

Zorra Township staff will have their first day in the new office on Friday.

ZORRA TOWNSHIP - It's moving week for Zorra Township staff.

They will finish packing up the municipal office located at 274620 27th Line, and they will have their first day in the new office at 163 Brock Street in Thamesford this Friday.

The Township office will be closed on Thursday while the transition takes place, but you will still be able to access municipal services online or over the phone.

The construction of the new building started in March 2023, and Mayor Marcus Ryan says it's still not 100 percent finished yet.

"Anybody who has ever built their own home and has ever done a home renovation knows that the last 10 percent of the work takes 90 percent of the time. That's the state the building is in right now with the baseboards, the touch-up paint and there's still a bit of paving to be done."

The paving work will be done this week.

Mayor Ryan says they have decided to cancel the June 5th Township Council meeting, because they're not sure if all of the audio and video equipment in the new council chambers will be ready yet.

"Zorra moved to a very progressive virtual council meeting format. So when people watch those meetings on YouTube either live or later on, and we actually get a lot of people watching segments of those meetings in the week after the council meeting, but that requires really good audio and video equipment in council chambers and it has to be really dependable. That's part of the transparency of municipal government."

Council will instead have a longer meeting on Wednesday June 19th with a 9:30 a.m. start time.

Mayor Ryan says the new municipal building will be more accessible to residents. Solar panels will also be installed on the roof next year for energy efficiency, and the facility will house a childcare facility with 88 spaces when all is said and done.

The soon-to-be former municipal building on 27th Line had been the Zorra Township office for 49 years. It was sold to the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO) for $1,230,000 in November 2023, and the CFFO will take possession of the building on June 3rd.