Union Gap City Hall Will be Back in One Building by 2013

It is the city's temporary answer for a long-term problem: a modular unit will be placed on city-hall grounds.

It comes after dangerous mold forced employees out of city hall and police headquarters earlier this year. Now city offices are scattered across town.

"There's a lot of disjointedness, there's a lot of records that aren't available, making records requests difficult,” said Mayor Roger Wentz. “There's a lack of communication."

KIMA first reported that the city had plans to get the temporary unit up by the end of 2012.

Now, city officials say it will not be until sometime next year that the unit is put in place on city hall grounds. Officials say the delays comes because they still have not decided to lease or own the roughly $400,000 unit.

The city says it can save ten-of-thousands of dollars if they pay it off in five years instead of leasing. Plus, they get to keep the unit for future use.

"We've covered all the bases; get all of the figures down. We don't want to rush into things and make huge mistakes,” Wentz said.

Neighbors understand the need to make the right decision. However they say they are waiting for city hall to be under the same roof once again.

“They need to do something pretty soon. I mean, they shouldn't take too long with it,” said Carol Maygra.

Whether the city chooses to buy or rent the modular will determine the final cost. It will set the city back about $170,000 to get it started either way.

Wentz says it is going to be money well spent.

"Once we get everyone back under the same roof, we'd be much more efficient," Wentz said.