As Douglass Township's Roadmaster, Mike Heydt says making do with what is available is part of his nature. So under Heydt's leadership, members of the municipality's highway department eat lunch on a long conference table donated by a local business owner sitting in chairs, some with makeshift arm rests, which were rescued from the trash.

                During heavy snowfalls, four workers can sleep on two donated couches, a lounge chair and a cot in a corner office of the township's public works building at 108 Municipal Drive.

No one uses the shower in the large bathroom, with a rotted drop ceiling, because it shoots out "stinky water," according to Heydt.

                He said rats, which have easy access to the structure through numerous holes, are often seen scurrying across the dirt floor in the dimly lit common area. 

"It's enough to allow the guys to get some rest when they need it," Heydt said of the building.

                Township officials have begun the process to replace the facility, which Supervisor Fred Ziegler said was built in 1938.

                Heydt said the structure, which has undergone several haphazard additions over the years, according to township Manager Pete Hiryak, previously served as the municipal police department and a public meeting facility.

                At the Feb. 2 public meeting, the township's board of supervisors directed staff to move forward with site, environmental, cost feasibility and building plans to build a new highway maintenance building.

                Hiryak called the plan to construct a new public works facility a huge undertaking.   "This is just the beginning," he said after the meeting.  John Stasik, Jr., the supervisor's chairman, called the project long overdue.

                Ziegler suggested that municipal officials move as quickly as possible to complete the work.  "This is 20 years too late," he said during the meeting.

                A modern facility, which would include adequate office space, a small kitchen and common area as well as sleeping facilities and a bathroom with a working shower, would allow the department to be more efficient, according to Heydt.  

Officials said they couldn't offer an estimate on how much the project could cost.

                He said the construction of a new garage would allow staff members to make repairs to the township's trucks inside the structure.

                According to Heydt, the new facility would also allow the department to better organize its apparatus and equipment.  "We need more space," he said. "We're running out of place to storage areas."

                Municipal officials have discussed this project several times in recent years, according to supervisors Vice Chairman Anthony Kuklinski.   "We're going to make it happen," he said during the meeting.

                According to Kuklinski, the goal is to build a facility that will meet the current needs of the department that currently serves more than 10,000 residents and a vast number of businesses in the township as well as meet the needs of future expansion. 

                In an email, Kuklinski said municipal officials could not yet determine how they would fund the project.  "Hopefully our finances will be able to tolerate this," Ziegler said during the meeting.  Acording to Kuklinski, the antiquated building and the condition of the existing 70-year old facility does not effectively serve the needs of Douglass Township.  He stated that John Sartor, from Gilmore & Associates, the township's appointed engineering firm, is spearheading the project.

                A site survey of the township-owned property, which covers 40,000 square feet near the intersection of Route 73 and includes two salt stations and the municipality's recycling center – was completed Friday, according to Kuklinski.  "John is really working quickly on this," the supervisor wrote in a message.

                The maintenance team, consisting of five full-time employees, is responsible for 78 miles of road in the township, according to Heydt.