OAKLAND TWP — By this point next year, the township is hoping to have begun construction on its new municipal building, which is planned to be located at the intersection of North Butler Church Road and Center Road.

The township received a major boost toward that goal in October, when it was awarded a $500,000 Local Share Account grant from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.

The current municipal building is located on Chicora Road. According to both Butler County property records and township supervisor Brian Hans, the building was formerly the Barrel Bar, operated by Jay and Hazel Waltman.

“(The township) took it over years ago to have a nicer building to have meetings,” Hans said. “They converted it over to the Oakland Township building at that time, and they've had it ever since.”

Hans said the township wants a new municipal complex so it can centralize its offices, meeting space and maintenance building in one location. Presently, the maintenance building is nearly 2 miles away, on Shearer Road.

“The secretary spends a lot of her time by herself,” Hans said. “We’re trying to group everybody together so everybody’s in the same area, so we don’t have people working by themselves all the time.”

According to Butler County property records, the township has owned the 11.61-acre parcel since 1992, when it purchased it from Lawrence Jewart, of Chicora, for $20,000.

“That part of the building site we already owned prior,” Hans said. “We set it aside for just this moment in time, so we could expand in the township and build at that point.”

“Everything’s looking good, but until all the permits are cleared through the state, it’ll be about nine months,” Hans said.