Wodonga Council’s Hovell St offices will reopen to the public on Monday, November 4.
Customer service staff will relocate back to the main offices from their High St base at the close of business on Friday, November 1.
The move paves the way for Wodonga Library to move to the High St space where it will operate from for the duration of the library-gallery redevelopment.
The library will extend into the old sports store as well allowing it room to include areas for part of the book collection and public computers.
Works began at the end of 2018 to refurbish the ground floor following the opening of the new Council Chamber earlier in the year.
The Hovell St building is more than 40 years old and the refurbishment works have addressed age-related building defects and non-compliant building issues such as disability access, lift access, staff and public amenities.
“We look forward to welcoming our community to the refurbished offices,” Wodonga Mayor Cr Anna Speedie said.
“The new customer service centre will be more functional and provide better public access that is compliant with today’s standards as well as ensuring we are providing a safe workplace for our staff.”
At the Hovell St offices, a new lift has been installed at the entrance and the customer focus area updated to make the building more accessible and safer for staff and visitors.
The lift goes from the car park level to the second floor where North East Catchment Management Authority is located.
The lift meets accessibility standards for the community to access the public areas of the building, including customer service, public toilets and Council Chamber.
A second lift will replace the existing internal lift within the existing structure which is more than 30 years old.
Wodonga Library and Arts Space Wodonga will close the doors on Wednesday, November 13 with a farewell event.
The space will reopen on Wednesday, November 20 in High St.
Cr Speedie said the council was committed to providing the key services the library offered in the temporary location during the library-gallery build.
“Our library is so well-used by people from across our community and even the region,” she said.
“More than 180,000 people visit the library-gallery each year and the library loans more than 191,000 items annually.
“With services like the provision free public computer access, it is important that we provide that continuity to our community who need this service while the new development takes place.”
The library's book collection totals more than 40,000 books and the temporary space will host part of this collection. The temporary collection will be based on popular choices and the availability of collections at other libraries. Part of the collection will be put in storage.
But avid readers will still have access to the more than 2.4 million books available through the Swift consortium.
Arts Space Wodonga will be running a series of outreach programs and alternative spaces during the build of the new library gallery.
The tender for the library-gallery redevelopment is due to be awarded before the end of the year.