Town Hall South Addition To

Be Completed By Labor Day

By Andrew Gorosko

Workers this week continued labor on constructing a 3,200-square-foot addition to the southern end of Town Hall South to be used for the storage of town voting machines and as a vehicle impoundment area by town police.

Concrete has been poured for the building’s footings, which will support the steel posts of the spartan structure.

The construction project will cost the town approximately $300,000, said Fred Hurley, town public works director.

On the morning of May 16, passers-by had quite an aquatic prospect at the construction site, where heavy rains that fell the preceding day had flooded the area.

Another temporary feature of the project is a towering pile of dirt strewn with boulders, which has been stockpiled atop the southern entrance/exit driveway at the police station.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said police have adapted to the blocked driveway, parking their vehicles in other areas until the pile of dirt is removed. Police have been keeping their cars in the rear parking lot, he said.

“We’re hoping it’s done as soon as it can…but, it’s a project,” he said. “We recognize that this is a project,” he said.

Mr Hurley said he expects the pile of dirt to remain in place for about a month, depending on weather conditions, after which will be used as earthen fill on the site.

The building addition will have suitable drainage installed to divert water flow away from the structure, Mr Hurley said. That drainage will be channeled to a wetland lying west of the building, he said.

John Kuck, the project engineer for Hawley Construction Corporation, said that the area to be used for voting machine storage will be enclosed, heated, and supplied with electricity. The area to be used for vehicle storage will be open to the elements.

One-third of the area will be voting machine storage space, with the remaining two-thirds of area to be used for the vehicle impoundment.

Mr Kuck supervised on May 17 as workers moved earthen materials about at the construction site.

“It’ll definitely be finished by Labor Day,” Mr Hurley said of the building addition project.