At a special meeting of council on Monday night, the Village of Muenster passed a pair of resolutions which will lead to the sale of the former Affinity Credit Union building to the Village with the intent of seeing the Village offices move. The sale is subject to approval by the Affinity Credit Union Board. That is expected to happen at their next meeting on April 28.

The buildings in Muenster and Lake Lenore have been vacated by Affinity Credit Union as they open their new service centre in Humboldt. The agreed upon purchase price was one dollar. 

There are advantages for the Village in moving next door to the larger building, says Muenster Mayor Scott Davis. 

“We’ve decided it’s going to be best for our administrator and our foreman to be over there,” said Davis. “It’s a better space and it will be more efficient for our town activities.”

The former credit union will provide more space for personnel, storage and meetings, and it also provides other opportunities given that Council estimates it won’t require all the space in the building. 

“There will be future possibilities of renting out office space for other people to move into as we set fit,” Davis says. “There’s potential for some extra businesses in there.” That revenue could partially offset any increases in expenses from utility costs for their new facility.

The vacancy created in the existing village office will provide other interesting possibilities, council noted. The Village owned building also houses the fire hall and the Muenster Branch of the Parkland Regional Library. The library may be the agency that sees the greatest benefit. 

“There is potential to expand the library,” Davis speculates. “The library has been doing very well. It’s actually been noted as the top 11 of the 54 libraries in the system, so there’s potential for them to expand and even for the fire department to take a little bit of that space.”

Plans will become more concrete once the sale of the building is finalized. A similar offer to purchase was forwarded to the Lake Lenore Village Council for the space left vacant in their community. Village administrator Connie Cordero says that Council is weighing its options.