Hindmarsh Shire Council chief executive Dean Miller, infrastructure services director Douglas Gowans, corporate services acting director Tony Doyle and site supervisor Stuart McDonald stand inside stage one of the project. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Hindmarsh Shire Council's new offices in Nhill are taking shape with construction of the project's first stage due to be completed next month.
Council infrastructure services director Douglas Gowans said the project, which began construction in February last year, was on target to be completed in October and within council's $3.9-million budget.
"Stage one of the project is nearing completion so the plan is to be relocating staff into that new building in late February," he said.
"Then the refurbishment of the existing offices and stage two and three of the building will get underway once we have relocated.
"We had a three-stage project but we have reduced that to two stages so that stages two and three will be done at the same time.
"That means the contract can be completed earlier and there are efficiency gains in the construction."
Mr Gowans said monthly council meetings would be in each of the shire's towns Nhill, Dimboola, Rainbow and Jeparit while the existing council chambers were refurbished.
He said council would run its customer relations service from the Nhill Lions Club offices in Davis Avenue, Nhill.
"It is a good thing to make sure people have the opportunity to be involved in the council process across the shire," he said.
"All our meetings are open to the public wherever they may be and this is a good opportunity to take our council meetings to other localities."
Mr Gowans said while the project was unpopular with some residents, the existing 50-year-old building at 92 Nelson Street, Nhill, needed upgrading.
"There is a lot of interest in how the building is progressing and what the look of the building is going to be," he said.
"There are obviously varying views about the need to do this project, however the project is only being done to replace the existing infrastructure."
Dimboola Town Committee president Phil Colquhoun said the committee had resigned itself to the fact that the new shire offices would be built.
He said the committee would focus on establishing a tourist information centre in Dimboola, possibly next to the town's Pickering Gardens.
"It could be a tourist information centre cum shire office and meeting room in Dimboola because we need a decent meeting room where we could have 200 or 300 people,'' he said.
"It could also double as a safe house during bushfires.
"We want to put a tourist information centre here and would like to have a shire employee here as well to oversee the town.