Managers Weigh Options

For Future Use

Of Edmond Town Hall

By Kendra Bobowick

“We’ve had to be caretakers” for the Edmond Town Hall, “and now its [future] is a wide open palette,” said Board of Managers member Mary Fellows.

As residents step into the vaulted front foyer and approach the movie theater’s ticket window they pass closed doors to the left where the town clerk’s office staff once bustled. A second closed door had once opened on a hallway leading to the tax assessor, tax collector, and judge of probate’s offices. To the right is another suite now locked, lights off, where the first selectman’s and human resources director’s offices sit vacant. These and other town departments are now working from the Newtown Municipal Center, formerly Bridgeport Hall in Fairfield Hills.

Downstairs holds more empty rooms where finance offices used to be. With spaces to fill, the managers are looking for ways to keep the town hall in business, open to the community, and financially afloat. With the movie theater and concession stand generating income, Ms Fellows remarked Tuesday, “There is no reason for us to develop business where it’s already developed, we need a plan for the downtime.”

Recently borough officials, including Warden Jim Gaston, met with the managers to talk about establishing a cultural arts center in the vacant rooms.

“I am concerned about the idea of a cultural arts center,” Board of Managers member Sandy Motyka said this week. After meeting with Mr Gaston and others, she said, “I was expecting a brainstorm and to hear all kinds of ideas, but …” She said does not necessarily feel that an arts center is “the only viable use.”

An arts center and use of the space for pottery or painting exhibits, for example, presents a conflict for Ms Fellows. “It puts us in competition with our own library,” she said. She also asked if such a venue would even produce enough income for the building. She suggested “working together” with the borough or others and, “think big, start small.” Other ideas to return activity to the space included the Alexandria Room and its revamped adjoining kitchen. The facility could cater to businesses looking for an off-site location to hold working luncheons or business workshops, Ms Motyka said.

Simple changes to the building’s technology could mean “all the difference in the world,” such as a wireless Internet connection, suggested Ms Fellows.

Ms Motyka added, “We could offer opportunities,” thinking that the kitchen is also an ideal location for cooking classes. “Let’s start with things that have a prayer of succeeding,” she said. Already several dance instructors have expressed interest in studio space, which the board entertained and weighed which rooms would best suit the activity.

Another idea focused on a trend of do-it-yourself weddings. From a ceremony at the Newtown Meeting House the wedding party could walk to the banquet hall in the Alexandria Room for a reception.

Also in an effort to improved their finances, the managers have changed trustees, placing the Mary Hawley Trust account into resident Ed Marks’s hands. The Parks and Recreation Commission chairman is also with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and advised the members about the changes made in their portfolio, and what they can expect since his firm took over the trust. He also took time discussing their investment in relation to the current economy.