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Jeff Labine, tbnewswatch.com
The new office building for the Mountain View cemetery.
After six years of waiting, construction of a new office building at Mountain View cemetery has begun.
The new office building was approved by city council in May along with other infrastructure investments. The new facility will offer services including washrooms and an outside area for gatherings. The project is estimated to cost about $700,000.
Neebing Coun. Linda Rydholm said the delays for the building were because they were hoping to simply renovate the 50-year-old building. When that plan fell through, they moved to build a new facility all together.
Rydholm said the project could have cost as much as $900,000 but the city found out they could save money by hooking up the building to the existing septic field.
“The facility will be well used by the public,” Rydholm said.
“It’s not like building a house. For example, the roof alone for this building will cost $70,000. When we say $700,000, we mean the whole project from demolition to new landscaping.”
She said the construction workers will demolish the old building once the new building is up. The reason for this is to ensure the private documents the cemetery keeps stays in a specially constructed safe.
Once the new building is up, those documents will be transferred over into the safe, she said.
“People use this place like it was a park,” she said. “It’s very well maintained. It’s clean, green and beautiful.”
The project is expected to be finished around fall.
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