New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is moving ahead with a $300 million dollar renovation of the New Jersey Statehouse.
Christie says the building constructed in 1792 is falling apart and workers have covered some of the windows with plywood.
"Those windows are boarded up now because those windows were judged when they were inspected to be ready to fall out of the building. So, we're boarding them up and the fact is that this is an unsafe building for all of us to be operating in it every day."
Some lawmakers say the state can't afford to make all the renovations and should do only what's needed to ensure safety following what a Treasury official calls decades of neglect.
The work will be financed through borrowing by the state Economic Development Authority and could take four years to complete.
Christie says employees in the executive branch portion of the building will be relocated by June.
“I will be the last governor who will operate in a firetrap and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last seven years. Fortunately for me and maybe unfortunately for some of my adversaries there was never a fire, but we need to get out of there before there is, before there is any loss of life.”