East Penn Township intends to make improvements to its community center.

The township will open the doors of the building at 403 Blue Mountain Road in Ashfield from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Jan. 11 to allow licensed/insured contractors to visually inspect it to give proposals for work.

Work includes removal of interior paneled walls, ceilings, installation of walls with insulation and other improvements to be discussed upon inspection.

Licensed/insured contractors, who are interested, should RSVP township manager Jillyan Sterling by Friday at 570-386-5735.

Sterling explained how the situation came to be.

“The board of supervisors have been intending on doing upgrades, but could never decide on what, or if we could get a grant,” Sterling said. “The flooring has definitely been in need of replacing, so we decided we would tackle that issue first, then the wall (the far wall on the fire company side) was brought up about not being insulated, so it was decided we would take the paneling off and insulate and place new wall’s on that side before the floor was installed.”

Sterling noted they had a bad storm one day before Easter of last year.

“So we happened to stop in and notice that a huge amount of ceiling had fallen in at the kitchen and hallway from being wet,” she said. “We thought maybe it was from that storm, but the insurance adjuster said it was not from a one-time event; that it was from a pipe that the caulking was dried out on the roof.

“We re-caulked it, but the ceiling is still falling down and the area is spreading, we obviously need to figure out why and where it is leaking. So after speaking with the engineer and BCO, we thought of having someone come out and give us proposals on finding the leak, fixing/replacing the ceiling in designated areas, removing the paneling and installing insulation and new walls, as well as proposals to do the other side of the wall (just new walls, not insulation).

“We did have an environmental company come out and test to make sure it was safe to be in with the water damage. Everything at this time is within acceptable limits.”

Sterling explained the main objective behind the project.

“The main goal is to make the community center safe and to give it some much needed upgrading in amounts we can afford to do it,” she said. “This will also make it more visually appealing to rent.”