Offices Prepare To Move To New Municipal Building

By Kendra Bobowick

The town is planning a “big move,” starting this month, and “we have to do this in pieces or it would be chaos,” said First Selectman Joe Borst. Leaving behind old office space at Edmond Town Hall and the Kendro Building on Peck’s Lane, much of Newtown’s municipal and Board of Education personnel will be relocating in stages to Bridgeport Hall — renamed Newtown Municipal Center — in Fairfield Hills.

Looking at tentative dates spanning from September 18 through November 2, move coordinator Maria DeMarco of DeMarco Management, said, “Before the holidays they’ll all be snug in a new place.” Looking forward to a campus “coming back to life,” she described the transformations at the former Bridgeport Hall as its space is renovated and refitted: “It’s beautiful.”

The move dates covering much of the early fall are tentative. Without a temporary Certificate of Occupancy yet, she looked at the dates saying, “You have to plan.” Also, “There are always the ‘what ifs, to deal with,” Ms DeMarco noted. For instance, “What if someone splices a phone line while laying carpet?” she asked. While a variety of things can go wrong in a move, she is not worried. “It’s nothing that can’t be fixed,” she said with optimism. Coming from a corporate background where as many as 3,000 people need to be relocated, she is not unsettled by Newtown’s plans. If problems arise, “You work it out,” she said.

Contributing largely to the move are GIS Director Scott Sharlow and school district counterpart Carmella Amodeo. They are handling phone lines, communications and data, etc, to make a smooth transition into the new building. (See below for full list of department members contributing to the move)

“Every piece of this move is delegated so when people show up to work their phones are on — they can go to work,” Ms DeMarco said. Staff members have been “packing up and purging” to “make it work” at a new location. So far, everything is on track, she explained.

The tentative move dates and office closings are:

September 18 — IT department from Newtown Middle School.

October 9 — Municipal offices from Kendro. Offices closed for business starting noon Thursday, October 8, through Tuesday, October 13.

October 23 — Municipal offices from Edmond Town Hall. Offices closed for business starting noon Thursday, October 22, through noon Monday, October 26

October 30 — Board of Education from Kendro — offices closed for business starting noon Thursday, October 29, through noon Monday, November 2.

Department move coordinators are: Donna Culbert, Kendro; Chris Kelsey, Edmond Town Hall; Superintendent Dr Janet Robinson, Board of Education; Joanne Lemire, Board of Education; John Poeltl, municipal office building storage; Maureen Will, communications/municipal departments; Scott Sharlow, IT and phones, town offices; Carmella Amodeo, IT, Board of Education; Fred Hurley, temporary staging coordination; Bob Tait, purchasing; Maria DeMarco (DeMarco Management), overall move coordination; Angel Lee (DeMarco Management), move coordinator.