Police bldg. may include upgrades to boro hall Boro prepares to go out to bid on new police HQ BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer WEST LONG BRANCH - Borough officials are looking to include improvements to the current borough hall building on Broadway as part of the new police headquarters building project. As plans for the new police building continue to move forward, Council-woman Bettina Munson said at the March 7 municipal meeting that there is discussion of renovating borough hall as part of the project. "We are seeing if it is feasible right now," she said, adding that such improvements would include improving the access ramp outside the building as well as creating a vestibule at the building's entrance to decrease the amount of cold air that comes into the building. "The building committee's idea is that we might as well do this as one project and look at the costs, rather than in steps throughout the years," Munson said. Another addition to the project could include renovations to the current moldy police building and former borough hall building at 95 Poplar Ave., Munson added. Plans for the new borough police department headquarters building at borough hall property are under way, according to an update on the progress of the project at the council meeting. The next step is to complete the bidding proposals for the $2.75 million building to be constructed at 965 Broadway, Munson said at the meeting. "We are now moving forward," said Munson at the meeting, adding, "We voted for the design of the building and now we are preparing the bidding proposals." The borough building committee met with the architects and engineers for the project last month to review the technical aspects of the project, according to Munson. "I was impressed with the expertise of the people we had in the room," she said. "We are making sure the design of the building is feasible." The plans for the project are still in the preliminary phases and call for police headquarters to relocate from 95 Poplar Ave. to a new 10,000-square-foot building to be constructed at the site of borough hall. The borough construction and code enforcement offices will remain at Poplar Avenue. The design plans, prepared by the architectural firm of Sonnenfeld and Trocchia, are available at borough hall.