BREWER – The initial plan was to move City Hall to the historic administration building at the defunct Eastern Fine Paper Co. mill site, but as plans for the old mill changed, so did plans for the municipal building.

City leaders decided Tuesday to use the $321,750 in federal grants, set aside two years ago for the move, to renovate the old library into City Council chambers, and add department space and possibly an elevator to the current City Hall.

“I view this as the stars aligning,” City Manager Steve Bost told councilors before their vote.

He said when Cianbro Corp. created plans to reshape the defunct mill into a module manufacturing facility, it also decided to use the mill’s administrative building for office space. Around the same time that Cianbro was making its plans, the city learned that an old school building at 100 S. Main St. would soon be available, and the decision was made to move the library into the larger space.

Then, city leaders had to decide what to do with the old library, at 24 Union St., which is adjacent to City Hall.

“To me, it screams ‘council chambers,'” Bost said.

The city has asked WBRC Architects-Engineers of Bangor, which originally designed the building, to draft plans to create City Council chambers out of the space, along with some office space.

The remaining grant money would then be used to add an elevator to the current City Hall and add space for departments that are now located in other buildings.

“One of the exciting things that this does is move the offices of code and planning back into this building,” Bost said. “My hope is to bring the finance director up into this space. It’s an exciting time for city staff.”

The federal grants are from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department, and they have a timeline for use, Deputy Mayor Gail Kelly said.

“It was a use-it-or-lose-it deal,” she said. “If we didn’t use it within a certain time, we’d lose it.”

If all goes as planned, the City Council will be meeting at its new home by the middle of next year, Bost said.

Before the approval was given, Councilor money would cover the entire project. Finance Director Karen Fussell said that without plans, it’s too early to tell but that the goal is to have a renovation budget that is between $300,000 and $400,000.

“This is not something that would happen without your approval,” she said.