Decatur Public Works Moving During Renovation

The Decatur Public Works Department needs to move to a new location while its space at 2635 Talley St. is renovated and expanded.

The city commission is scheduled to vote Monday night on lease that would allow the department to move into 9,400 square feet of office-warehouse space at 2716 E. Ponce de Leon Ave. for 16 months.

The rent would be $4,600 per month. The lease would start June 1, with the first month free.

The commission is also scheduled to vote Monday to approve funding for a $119,000 change order on renovation of . The change order would increase the total cost of the project from $1,843,000 to $1,962,000.

Hugh Saxon, deputy city manager, said in a memo the extra money is needed because of "concealed" site and building conditions, such as unsuitable soils, asphalt repairs and drainage improvements as well as installation of cable trays for telecom wiring, power cords and smoke detectors.

Saxon said most of the work is finished and the fire department expects to move into the building this month.

The city commission will meet in city hall at 5:30 p.m. Monday for an executive session and at 6 p.m. for a dinner meeting. At 6:30 p.m. it will hold a work session to discuss the Safe Routes to School program and the Georgia State University MPA Capstone Project report.

The regular meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. Except for the executive session, all the meetings are open to the public.

City commission meetings (but not work sessions) are broadcast live on Comcast channel 25. They are rebroadcast at 2 p.m. the Saturday after the meeting.