Date: Fri 31-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Town-Hall-South-FHH-office

Full Text:

Packing Up For The Big Move w/ cut & map

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

For months now, the move to Fairfield Hills has only been the subject of talk

in the lower level of Town Hall South. Now the boxes are coming out, and it is

time to stop talking and start packing.

The 20-plus full- and part-time town employees who work at the deteriorating

Main Street building will be temporarily housed in the first floor at Canaan

House in Fairfield Hills beginning February 10. First Selectman Bob Cascella

received the go ahead to enter into a two-year lease agreement with the state

Monday from both the Board of Selectmen and Legislative Council.

The move will take place February 7-8, with all offices to be closed on

Friday, February 8.

With just one week remaining until the temporary move there is anticipation in

the air throughout the offices of parks & recreation, building, land-use and

health. The employees have mixed feelings about the move. After all, it is not

a former office building these people are moving into, it's a former mental

hospital.

The employees, many of them already packing boxes, discussed the move

Wednesday afternoon.

"We're going to make the best of it," said Town Engineer Ron Bolmer.

No one is looking forward to the packing. Just about everything must go.

"We can't get rid of anything because it's all kind of permanent," Mr Bolmer

added.

The unpacking will likely go on for a few days after the employees settle in

to their new home, but all offices will be open for business on the morning of

Monday, February 10, according to First Selectman Bob Cascella.

Janet Burns of the land use department is hoping the leaking and excess

moisture at Town Hall South she had to deal with will finally be a thing of

the past.

"We're going to miss the mushrooms," she joked, referring to the fungi that

began growing in the P&Z office last winter.

The Parks & Recreation Department will finally be getting windows, something

it never had at Town Hall South. Earlier this week, Deborah Mesinger and

Charlene Paternoster were packing boxes with whatever they could get their

hands on.

Larry Russell of the health department said it will probably take the public a

while to get used to the new location in the early going, but said his office

was dealing with about the same amount of space.

Down in the Building Department, Jean St Jean and Barbara Dzitko were looking

for recruits to come in and help with the packing but were having little luck.

"We're cleaning out our desks and getting things packed up," said Mrs St Jean,

who regularly walks the spacious grounds of the former state mental hospital.

The Town Hall South employees are heading to Fairfield Hills just temporarily,

but there is no telling what the future holds in store. A new permanent site

for their offices has not yet been found.

The police department is expected to eventually take over the vacated portion

of Town Hall South.