CARO – The Caro Municipal Building is getting a makeover.
The Caro City Council voted at its Jan. 17 meeting to give permission to City Manager Scott Czasak to spend $11,350 to put a new vestibule in the building’s east entrance.
“There will be another set of doors, so it will be like another lobby,” Czasak said. “We’re going to have our ballot box inside, the bill drop-off will be inside and we’ll have a pegboard for city notifications.”
City hall, 317 S. State St. (M-81), will get a new pair of doors inside the pair that already exist. The city will pay Dave’s Glass of Caro $10,350 to install the doors and Martin Electric about $1,000 for additional wiring, which will include a security camera.
Also at the Jan. 17 meeting, the council heard Tuscola Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Steve Erickson present a plan that could alleviate the cost to demolish the city’s old police headquarters. Erickson told the council of a grant plan that could pay for the demolition of the building, 150 Montague Ave.
In spring of 2021, the police department moved from the building to a new headquarters that was constructed on the west side of the municipal building. The city plans to tear down the old police headquarters and replace it with a parking lot, which would provide easy access to downtown businesses, most notably the Caro Strand Theatre, 101 S. State St.
Erickson said he’d work with the city in applying for the grant. “We’re going to try and do that to obtain the funds, as opposed to having it taken down with taxpayer money,” Czasak said. “Then we can reallocate the funds for another project.”
The council also passed a resolution to present former Mayor Joe Greene with a certificate of thanks at its next meeting. Greene was elected mayor in 2016 and re-elected in 2018 and 2020.
