Paul Swartz and Carlos Tobar, of USA Architects, gave a presentation to the Emmaus Borough Council March 21 regarding the schematics of the newly purchased building on 33 East Minor St.

The former Rodale building will be where the new council chambers, police, fire and EMS departments will be located.

Swartz, who is the CEO of USA Architects, said his company has held several meetings with the building committee, council members, fire chief, police chief and a number of other people in the process of planning this building.

Swartz said the mission has been to repurpose the building in a cost effective way and to make sure the phasing could work so that depending on when the borough can afford to do certain parts of the project, they could do it.

Swartz said a large number of renovations to the existing building will be made, but will only put necessary additions on to save money.

He said the borough leaders gave seven guiding principles to follow during all of the phases: efficiency, security, cost and benefit savvy, space, needs enhancement and environmental friendliness, consolidation and sustainability.

“During the various phases we’re always going to come back to those principles to make sure we’re on target,” Swartz said.

Swartz said a number of different phases for this project are under review.

“Depending on the availability of funds from the borough, there might be a few that are lumped together,” he said.

Tobar went on to explain the six construction phases.

The first phase will include the renovation of the borough administration offices at a cost of $620,151 and the gym renovation at a cost of $53,400.

Phase two will include storage, meeting rooms and new stairs connecting floors one and two, at a cost of $525,030.

Phase three involves a new 21-space parking lot at a cost of $320,000.

Phase four will be the renovations for the fire and EMS offices at a cost of $526,244.

Phase five will include a new addition to the building, which will be the fire and EMS garages, the total amount coming to $974,893. Also included will be some site work and repave in the rear of the building at a cost of $292,500.

Phase six will include the police station renovations at a cost of $1,149,425. It will also include a new addition to the building which will be the police garage and a sally port, a secure entryway to the prison, totaling $570,130.

Swartz said the numbers came from a quick breakdown from a construction company and are based on a “prevailing wage.” He said they’ve learned the borough has the ability to perform a lot of work themselves. He gave the example of the borough having the right equipment to pave some of the new parking areas. This would lower some of the projected costs.

Swartz said as of now, the time frame is five years with a projected cost of $4.85 million.

Borough Manager Shane Pepe praised Swartz and Tobar for the hard work their company has put forth. He said their projected cost is right around where the original cost was set.

Pepe also noted the floor plans for the police and fire departments were heavily influenced by the officers and firefighters themselves.

Councilman Roy Anders noted the time frame for the construction is not strict. Council President Brent Labenberg added to Anders comment, saying if it has to take upwards of 10 years, then it will take 10 years.

“I think it was understood by this council that we did not want to do this by raising taxes,” Labenberg said.