Repackaging The Edmond Town Hall—

Whatever Will Become Of Edmond Town Hall?

 By Kendra Bobowick

She is looking for a hook.

Board of Managers member Sandra Motyka has been leading discussions about essentially marketing the Edmond Town Hall as its future functions change. As Fairfield Hills plans take shape with a new town hall location slated for that campus, the Main Street building will need to adapt to the loss of municipal occupants including the town clerk’s office, assessor’s office, and other town departments.

A punch list of ten ideas — including “Canvas building and conduct available floor space evaluation,” and “Complete a building inventory, advantages/disadvantages; furniture, media, wireless,” as the top two listings, and also developing teams for real estate assessments and business — “looks innocently simple on paper,” she said. “But this won’t be so simple to do.”

Intent on planning long term, as the board has agreed in the past is the right perspective, Ms Motyka has wasted no time in organizing a way to try to ease the historic building into a future of productivity.

“This is the beginning of what we need to do to evaluate,” she said. Ms Motyka wants the board to “have a feeling for advantages and disadvantages, options and threat,” the town hall faces. Additionally, she said, “The next step is to make a canvas of what we currently have,” she explained. She’s looking for numbers in square feet and available space.

Overall, Ms Motyka said, “Everything should be on the table now. I want to look at all the options…I’m hoping we can cut this big elephant into pieces.”

Surveys are also among considerations. She suggested polling tenants, moviegoers, and even potential newcomers, she said.

“Even just a few questions,” she said. “We may be surprised by what they reveal.”

But board members including Chairman Jay Gill wondered what incentive people had to get the surveys back to the board — just another unknown as they move ahead.

Already they have spoken about upgrading and making improvements to the kitchen adjacent to the Alexandria Room. This space has been used for banquets, wedding, rehearsal dinners, business brunches, and presents a viable space for the future, especially as kitchen improvements can make the area attractive to caterers, as has also been discussed.

She introduced an idea to from teams, starting with real estate.

“We need forecasts of how the building can be used,” she said. The board will likely become a more commercial site as it rents out its space. Ms Motyka’s list includes the idea of forming an Art Team.

“People [may] look at us as a venue for concerts and shows,” she said.

Also on her list is the idea to form a Business Team.

People on this team “would go out into the community and make connections with businesses to introduce them to uses of town hall,” she said.

Taking a direct approach is also on Ms Motyka’s list.

“I think we need to put together a presentation where we can go to groups and look for support,” she said. The Lions Club’s efforts in finding sponsors for the new theater seats has been a great success, she noted. Following this thought, Ms Motyka considered other civic organizations, saying, “Maybe certain groups can enlist for certain things.”

Addressing the board with a serious tone, Ms Motyka said, “Our business plan will evolve from what we do here. If we build on a good foundation, realistic goals and good input it’s the tortoise and the hare — we’ll get there eventually.”