Date: Fri 27-Jun-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

office-space-needs

Full Text:

Architects Vie For Office Space Study

Nine different architectural firms have expressed interest in helping the town

fill its need for space.

Now the Board of Selectmen must decide which architect to use. One of them

will eventually study the town's space needs, which made the news this past

winter when a deteriorating Town Hall South was evacuated. Town employees who

worked there remain temporarily stationed at Canaan House on the campus of

Fairfield Hills. At Edmond Town Hall, employees are working in cramped

conditions. A solution has to be found, according to First Selectman Bob

Cascella, who has requested the help of an expert.

Last winter, a space needs advisory panel recommended to the Board of

Selectmen that some offices be moved to Fairfield Hills' Watertown Hall, which

the town recently accepted from the state along with a garage and 22.6 acres.

Some residents, including local attorney Robert Hall, have urged town

officials to keep all town offices on Main Street, but in a recent poll sent

out by the first selectman's office, a majority of the residents said they

supported the permanent relocation of town office buildings to Fairfield

Hills.

Though he believes Watertown Hall is the logical destination for town

employees, Mr Cascella wants a study done before any decisions are made. Other

possibilities still being looked at are adding on to Edmond Town Hall and/or

renovating Town Hall South. Selectman Gary Fetzer has requested that the

architects take cost effectiveness into consideration of all recommendations.