Mars Borough moves municipal offices
MARS — The borough’s municipal offices officially have a new, centralized home.
Borough council discussed the recent move of the borough’s office to 301 Arch St. at a council meeting Tuesday night.
“The guys had time and were able to move most of our stuff over to these offices (last Wednesday),” secretary/treasurer Bonnie Forsythe said. “We have a lot of unpacking to still do; it’s nice to be able to walk through an office without having to squeeze through a little area. We’re going to use every square inch, I’m sure, but we are officially over here now.”
Tuesday was the first day for all borough offices to officially operate out of the new location, Forsythe said.
“At this point, we need to find what box everything is in and fix all the little issues that come with moving an entire server network,” she said.
The borough has been holding council meetings upstairs in the building at 301 Arch St. since mid-2021.
Residents looking to turn in water bill paperwork, ask questions or drop off building permits now will stop at 301 Arch St. instead of the former location at 589 Spring Ave.
“Administration, water billing, we now even have space for the mayor and the code enforcement officer, and dedicated phones for them,” Forsythe said. “That will be nice for them.”
The plan to move the borough offices has been in the works since Mars purchased the Arch Street property, she added.
“It was part of the discussion when they were looking at buying the building, so that was 2019,” she said. “It’s been in the works for a long, long time.”
At the meeting, council and Mayor Gregg Hartung discussed the recently hired Sgt. Brian Novosel, who will serve as the police department’s second full-time officer beginning next week.
Novosel has worked with the department on a part-time basis for the past 10 years. He will work under the borough’s first full-time officer-in-charge, Mark Lint.
“Mark (Lint) is working with him in terms of expectations, in terms of the position,” Hartung said. “Having known him and being able to roll him right in to the position was a lot easier than going outside of the department. If we had to do that, we would have, but we felt that Brian was really up for the position.”
“I have waited a long time to be full-time somewhere, and I’m glad it was here,” Novosel said Tuesday. “I look forward to working with the community full time instead of one day a week.”
