While Scott Clark does not believe building a new conference room at Niles City Hall is a bad idea, he said now is not the time to do it, especially when budgets are tight.

“I just don’t think it is a good investment of the peoples’ money,” said the Niles councilman.

Building a new conference room on the first floor of city hall would cost approximately $16,000, with $5,700 covering labor and the rest going toward supplies.

A proposal to allow Heartwood Quality Woodworking to provide labor for the project was up for vote at Monday’s regular council meeting.

The measure was defeated by a 5 to 2 vote with Gretchen Bertschy not present. Robert Durm and Bill Weimer were in favor of the proposal.

Clark led the charge against the proposal by having the item removed from the council’s consent agenda so the project could be discussed.

“It think it’s a waste of money and it’s not actually needed,” said Clark, pointing out that there is plenty of meeting space already between rooms at city hall and the fire station. “I think spending $16,000 on a room is not the frugal thing to do at this time. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it, I just think we shouldn’t do it at this time.”

The new conference room would have been located in existing lobby space in city hall adjacent to customer service.

City administrator Ric Huff said the reasoning behind the proposal is that it would make better use of the space and give staff access to a ground level conference room in which to hold meetings without having to leave the building.

Currently, there are three conference rooms in city hall.

Also Monday:

• The council approved a $10,000 loan for the Four Flags Area Chamber of Commerce out of the city’s revolving loan fund. The chamber will use the money to purchase a new heating system after its current one failed.

• The council gave Knights of Columbus Chapter 708 the approval to hold a fundraiser for mentally impaired people in Berrien County. Members will be selling tootsie rolls at various stores throughout Niles March 26-28.