Office Workers Experience

The Unchanging Nature Of ‘Temporary’

By Steve Bigham

Three years ago, 25 town employees were uprooted from soggy offices at Town Hall South and moved to a “temporary” location at Fairfield Hills. Today, they remain there indefinitely as the town searches for new town office space.

During the month of February 1997, then First Selectman Bob Cascella ordered the evacuation of all departments from a waterlogged Town Hall South. The building had become uninhabitable due to flooding and general deterioration. Last year, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal extended the two-year lease at Canaan House for two more years.

Surprisingly, despite the institutional-like setting, employees from the Building, Health, Planning & Zoning and Parks & Rec departments say they have gotten used to life in the massive Canaan House building, which was once home to dozens of mental patients. Town offices are housed in an 8,600-square-foot section of the building. The rented space costs the town $3,600 a month or $43,200 per year.

“We’re rooted here,” noted Barbara Kasbarian, Parks & Recreation director. “We’re getting used to it since it doesn’t look like we’re going any place any time soon.”

Zoning coordinator Jean St Jean, a longtime town employee, said she is more than happy to be working at Canaan House. It certainly beats the unpleasant conditions at Town Hall South and she enjoys walking on the state hospital grounds. But did employees expect they would actually be there for this long?

“Absolutely,” she said this week. “I’ve worked for municipal government for 31 years. Everything takes time.”

It’s a good thing there aren’t many complaints because it could be several more years by the time town officials figure out how to solve its municipal space woes.

Finance Director Ben Spragg and his staff have been relegated to the Edmond Town Hall basement for the past 17 or 18 years. It was supposed to be a temporary location, but, as Mr Spragg points out, “temporary” is a relative term. Nevertheless, Mr Spragg said he would take his office over Canaan House any day.

“I don’t particularly like the smell. I guess they’re all used to it,” he said.

For the majority of the employees, Canaan House is all they know. They were all hired after the move from Town Hall South so they don’t know what it’s like to work in swamp-like conditions. Incidentally, the Town Hall South walls have reportedly been protected by installation of curtain drains.

The Municipal Space Needs Committee last year recommended that Newtown build a massive addition to the back of Edmond Town Hall. The $10 million addition would address the space shortage (by providing a 64 percent increase in space) and consolidate all town offices at one location. It would also keep the seat of government on Main Street, the historic center of the town, making Newtown’s traditionalists very happy.

However, there are many others who are opposed to expanding Edmond Town Hall. Critics agree that the old building needs to be fixed up, but they wonder what kind of traffic and parking problems a 15,000 or 23,000 square foot addition will create. And, they say, an addition to town hall buys the town 20 years at the most. What happens after that?

Many residents who support the town purchase of Fairfield Hills from the state say it would make a lovely site for town offices – particularly, they say, the three main buildings (surrounding a green) near the main entrance.

  The Municipal Space Needs Committee has also recommended that the lower level of Town Hall South be expanded to allow the police department to expand.