Mahoning Township hopes to purchase a building that would house its administration office and police department.

Supervisors took several steps in that direction at a special meeting Wednesday morning concerning the Diaz property at 2175 Blakeslee Blvd. Drive W., Lehighton.

• Hired Andress Appraisers for $2,000 for an appraisal of the building.

• Agreed to sign all paperwork related to the property as long as township solicitor Tom Nanovic approves it.

• Voted to appoint attorney Yens Damgaard for financial assistance for the building purchase.

• Hired Seitz Brothers to do a mold and radon inspection on the building.

After the meeting, Supervisor Myron Zeke Blahy said the township is in the process of signing an agreement to purchase the building, with contingencies.

“The township wants to purchase the Diaz building as the township building for its police and township administration office,” Blahy said. “We looked into the option of building for several years, building on our existing property, but with the cost of material and all, it’s getting ridiculous.

“We feel it’s a little more economical to buy an existing building, and maybe knock down a wall here or there to accommodate a larger meeting room. Now, police would have a larger facility down below, and we would have our administration office upstairs.”

Blahy said the two-story building is located on Route 443 and Clinic Road. The building is listed for sale at $549,000.

“It’s at the point that I think it would be, and so do the other supervisors, it would be to our advantage to purchase this building at a reasonable rate,” he said. “We don’t want to disclose it right yet, because it’s not set in stone.”

Blahy added that there are “a lot of contingencies riding on this, but hopefully that will all get ironed out.”

“We will now get inspectors involved and see what the total cost would be,” he said. If everything passes, I think we’ll do the purchase.

“This is a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned, because it’s a cheaper way to go rather than starting from scratch.”

Blahy said there are no plans to knock the township’s current municipal building down, as it would be used to store township equipment.

He added the public works yard will stay at the present township location.

A new building has been a topic of discussion for years.

In December, supervisors revisited the potential construction of a new municipal building.

At that time, the board discussed the possibility of checking into a lot on Route 443.

However, board Chairman Bruce Steigerwalt said at that time he did not want to move the township hall away from the township garages.

In March 2020, supervisors said that a new structure would probably be erected near the existing one on Mahoning Drive East.

The township’s current building was constructed in the 1960s and is cut in half, with the supervisors’ meeting area on one side and Mahoning’s police force on the other.