ROSS TOWNSHIP -- A new township building in the Poconos is being built to withstand bullets after the tragic shooting in Ross Township in 2013.
Ross Township’s new township building is beginning to take shape. It has everything from bulletproof windows and doors to a safe room.
Contractors are busy in Ross Township building a new township building right next to the old one. The project manager says this new one is built to take a bullet.
"Because of the history of what happened here a couple of years ago, this building is being constructed with ballistic glass and bulletproof doors. It's also going to have a secure vestibule entrance and a safe room area as well,” said project manager Jim Cawthern of Going Green Construction.
In 2013, Rockne Newell opened fire at a township supervisors meeting. Three people died.
The tragedy is the main reason behind the new $700,000 building with special energy-efficient exterior walls called ICF construction.
"It's foam blocks with reinforcing in it. It has steel both vertically and horizontally. It's two inches of foam, four inches of concrete, two inches of foam,” said Cawthern.
"This safe room in the new Ross Township building also has its own secure exit that will give supervisors and anyone else here another way out in case something were to ever happen."
$420,000 dollars of the project is covered by a grant funded by casino money. Ross Township is taking out a loan to pay for the rest.
"A waste of money, they could have redid the old building,” said Janet Wickers of Ross Township.
"Now if somebody wants to go in the new building and shoot somebody what are they going to do, build another building? The taxpayers are the ones that are suffering,” said Robert Philpot of Saylorsburg.
"If I was one of the workers working in that other building, walking through that same door where that tragedy had occurred, I know that's got to be mentally difficult. I think this will give them peace of mind,” said Cawthern.
The new township building is expected to be completed by March. We attempted to contact township supervisors about the new township building, they have not returned our calls.