New shire offices

– Melissa Meehan
THE CARDINIA Shire Council is currently exploring options for a site for new council offices.
Following a call for expressions of interest for the provision of new offices on a long-term lease arrangement, the council agreed at a meeting last week to go to the next stage of the tender process.
Council spokesperson Paul Dunlop said it was still early days in this process, and no decision regarding office accommodation has yet been made.
He said the council was exploring future options so that the needs of residents over the next 15-25 years could be met.
“Due to the confidential nature of the tender process, the council is limited by what it can say at this stage, however we certainly understand the interest in this issue and the community will be kept updated as appropriate,” he said.
The former Pakenham Shire Council established the current civic centre in 1983, it was built to house 55 staff servicing a population of 17,640 residents.
Now there are over 280 staff servicing a population of more than 60,000 residents.
“The civic centre is aged and at full capacity in terms of office space, electricity and other services,” he said.
“It is no longer adequate for the needs of council and our fast-growing community.”
He said the council was committed to ensuring that any new civic centre, if there was a decision to go down that path, would be environmentally friendly, easily accessible and close to existing services and infrastructure, as well as providing the best possible value for money in terms of lease arrangements.