Date: Fri 15-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Advisory-Town-Hall-offices

Full Text:

Advisory Panel Considers A New Municipal Complex

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Imagine a municipal government complex in Newtown that would house all of its

administrative offices in one location.

Now imagine Edmond Town Hall no longer being the town hall, instead being a

community center.

That appears to be the direction the newly formed Municipal Space Needs

Advisory Committee is heading, agreeing that town employees need to be

consolidated at one location. Now, it's a question of where this municipal

center would be located.

The advisory committee, charged with investigating possible sites for the

relocation of town employees, met twice this past week to discuss town space

needs.

Committee members say they are still in the brainstorming stage. No concrete

decisions are expected any time soon. However, the newly formed board has a

lot of work to do before making a final recommendation to First Selectman Bob

Cascella in January.

"We're going to brainstorm. We want to throw everything out on the table,"

committee chairman Jim Mooney said.

Indeed, the future of the town's governmental facilities must be addressed.

Employees at Town Hall South will soon be evacuating their offices due to

flooding and general deterioration of the building. According to Mr Cascella,

they are expected to make a temporary move to the eastern wing of the Canaan

House on the campus of Fairfield Hills sometime in December.

At Edmond Town Hall, employees are working in cramped conditions, according to

Mr Cascella, who said the finance department is working in the basement and

social services is headquartered in the attic.

The advisory committee Tuesday visualized a municipal complex that would

initially house administrative offices like first selectman, town clerk, tax

collector and Planning & Zoning, with the police, Board of Education and fire,

eventually being added on.

In all likelihood, according to committee chairman Jim Mooney, the complex

would be located at Fairfield Hills, where the state has indicated it would

lease Watertown Hall and its abutting 20 acres of land.

"Maybe we move everyone to Fairfield Hills," suggested committee member Joe

Mahoney.

A wish list by the town's department managers indicated a need for a

40,000-square-foot building.

State Rep Julia Wasserman urged the committee to seek a spot at Fairfield

Hills, saying the state property is part of Newtown.

As it now stands, according to Mr Cascella, the state has offered the town the

permanent use of Watertown Hall as a municipal complex, but there are other

options. The town is still owed a piece of property on the Fairfield Hills

property from the deal it made with the state over the prison. Bee publisher

R. Scudder Smith has also offered to construct a building at the corner of

Main and Sugar streets to be leased by the town.

As for Edmond Town Hall, members pointed out that it already has a movie

theater and gymnasium (and once had a bowling alley), giving it the makings of

a great community center.

However, committee member Jack Rosenthal reminded the board that Edmond Town

Hall has been the town's governmental center for 65 years.

"I think you'll create a firestorm if it gets out that Edmond Town Hall will

no longer be the town hall," he said.

Edmond Town Hall is governed by its Board of Managers, who's members have been

invited to meet with the advisory committee November 26 to hear their

preferences for Edmond Town Hall and to discuss the limitations and

restrictions put in Mary Hawley's will.

According to Miss Hawley's will, $200,000 was bequeathed to the town for the

construction of Edmond Town Hall. She also desired that "provision be made in

said building for suitable offices and vaults for Town Clerk of said town and

the Judge of Probate."

However, the will, which governs the use of the building, does not suggest

that the offices of town clerk and judge of probate must remain in Edmond Town

Hall.

According to Miss Hawley's will, "any property which may lapse...I give to

Yale University in New Haven."

Mr Cascella said Mrs Hawley's wishes have been broken before and will likely

be broken in the future.

"That will has been broken more times than you can imagine," he explained.

"What was legal and practical in 1929, may not be now."

Mr Cascella said Ms Hawley could have never guessed that Newtown would today

have sewers, a 350-member police force and six schools.