Citing accessibility and maintenance issues, municipal staff want Chatham-Kent council to rubber stamp $1.5-million in upgrades.

The key to the plan is to move the council chambers to the first floor.

The current set up is lacking in a number of key areas, including safe exits for those with disabilities, accommodations for the visually or hearing impaired, and public seating that is too low and difficult to get in and out of.

The Civic Centre was built in 1977, and underwent renovations in 1999.

That isn’t the end of the work as another roughly $16.5 million needs to be completed in the next three years, such as general upgrades to windows, floors and HVAC systems.