Waterford — Public Works and Utility Commission staff are set to move into their new office building this week, part of a phased municipal complex building project almost two decades in the making.

The Representative Town Meeting approved funding for the $15.8 million project in 2018. The town has appropriated $800,000 from its unassigned general fund balance toward the cost while the other $15 million is being bonded and will be paid down over the next two decades.

Once staff moves out of their old office building at 1000 Hartford Turnpike and into the new building at the same address, the former Public Works and Utility Commission administrative staff space will be demolished and, several months from now, a new fleet garage for town vehicles will be built in its place. First Selectman Rob Brule sees the fleet garage at first for public works vehicles, but then available for town vehicles.

“I think this is so unique in municipalities where you have your most expensive assets — next to firetrucks — protected,” Brule said. “These can last four to six years longer because they’re out of the elements. This space can actually house all our vehicles, so it’s not just Parks and Rec vehicles, utility vehicles, it’s Town of Waterford vehicles: Take the one that gets the job done for your department.”

Public Works Director Gary Schneider said one of the reasons for tearing down the old office building is because an old heating oil tank leak is in the soil beneath the structure.

“There’s a pool of fuel oil sitting underneath the existing building,” Schneider said. “The only way to remediate that was to take the building down.”

Schneider and Brule said the municipal building complex work took so long to get approved because of timing: It was first discussed in the early 2000s, about the same time the idea of building a new high school was considered.

In 2012, the town held off on municipal complex efforts as it prioritized construction on the town's schools. In the meantime, the complex was plagued by oil leaks, safety issues and code violations that have been resolved through minor repairs.

In late 2016, the project hit snags with a previous architect suffering financial challenges, and in 2017, the town held off while awaiting word on the availability of state aid. When the project went through the approval process in 2018, some town officials expressed concern about what they saw as exorbitant costs.

Brule said he wanted to fulfill former First Selectman Dan Steward’s goal in bringing this new municipal complex to fruition.

Schneider estimated that by late summer or early fall the fleet garage will be up and the entire project will be done by November.

Public Works Office Coordinator Sandy Kenniston has been the recording secretary for the Municipal Complex Improvements Building Committee for so long, she uses her son, a Waterford High School senior, as a barometer — she’s been taking notes at the meetings for 17 or 18 years.

Kenniston said that when she took over as secretary, she did not know the extent of what she had signed on to do.

She saw deliberations on the complex ebb and flow for years until the project was delayed for the sake of the new Waterford High School.

“There was a big span of time where the committee was put on hold,” Kenniston said. “Even though it’s been 17 years, I haven’t been going that long because the town stopped having those meetings for a substantial amount of time.”

When the committee disbanded in 2012, Kenniston said she didn’t think she and the other staff would have a new building to go to. She said some of the committee members felt the plan was dead once the group dissolved, and they has likely wasted almost a decade planning the complex.

But when the committee reunited in 2015, renewed discussions brought renewed hope for a new complex. Now, Kenniston said, she and others are “very excited” to move into the new building.