Date: Fri 20-Dec-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

office-space-state-lease-FHH

Full Text:

Town Awaits Lease Deal With State For Office Space

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

First Selectman Bob Cascella is still awaiting a lease price from Hartford

before he can begin making plans to temporarily move Town Hall South employees

to Canaan House on the grounds of the former Fairfield Hills state mental

hospital.

Tunxis Management Company, the group managing the Fairfield Hills property,

has received bids from contractors for renovation work on the building. Once

that is finalized, Mr Cascella said he expects to have a lease proposal and

will be able to begin moving people out of Town Hall South, which has been

ravaged by flood and general deterioration in recent years. Mr Cascella said

he expected to receive a lease price last month.

"I need to get this behind us," said Mr Cascella. "We've got lots of projects

going on, we've got the budget, I really want to get this settled."

State Rep Julia Wasserman said the renovations are expected to take about two

weeks.

"I think pretty soon the DPW is going to have to sit down with the town and

work out a price," she said Wednesday.

The first selectman said he's still optimistic that the move will take place

over the holidays when it will have the least impact on the town, but a later

date seems likely. Mr Cascella had originally planned to move out in

mid-December.

"We've got to get these people into an adequate, safe working environment,

then think of a permanent solution to the problem," Mr Cascella said in

September.

In the meantime, patch work has been done at Town Hall South in an effort to

prevent further leaking, but as Town Engineer Ron Bolmer pointed out Tuesday,

water is still seeping through cracks in the walls into the Planning & Zoning

office.

The 20-plus employees at Town Hall South say they've heard nothing lately

about a move, but add they're ready to go when the moving vans arrive.

How long the temporary move will last is not certain. Mr Cascella has said

that the temporary relocation would likely last a year or two. But according

to some town officials, it could be much longer.

Speculation raised Monday night's meeting of the Board of Selectmen suggested

that the state may be dragging its feet for fear the town will move in and

never move out. Mrs Wasserman said the rumor was untrue, pointing out that the

state is very interested in finalizing a deal. However, joke or no joke, the

prospect of a long stay at Fairfield Hills is not out of the question.

The Municipal Space Needs Advisory Committee was formed nearly two months ago

to come up with a list of possible future sites for town hall offices and to

make a recommendation to Mr Cascella in January. However, the committee is

scheduled to meet only two more times and some members have already said they

won't be able to make any recommendations by then.

The search for office space was initiated last summer when a proposed $840,000

renovation to Town Hall South was turned down by voters, who had already

approved a $4.1 million library expansion and a $30-plus million expansion to

Newtown High School and Hawley School. The first selectman did not have a

back-up plan at the time.