Board Of Managers––

‘Fix It As You Go!’ At Edmond Town Hall

By Dottie Evans

Approaching its 75th birthday on August 22, 2005, Edmond Town Hall is as important to Newtown residents today as it ever was –– despite talk about a proposed new town hall building to be constructed at the Fairfield Hills campus.

Undoubtedly, decisions about exactly which municipal functions would be moved from Edmond Town Hall into the new facility and which, if any, would remain where they are, will be made as soon as the town’s purchase of the 186-acre Fairfield Hills campus is officially completed and after the Master Plan is approved by the voters.

Meanwhile, Edmond Town Hall continues to serve as command central for Newtown residents.

Whether they come to pay taxes, see a movie, visit the first selectman, look up old land records, take a new puppy to obedience class, or shoot baskets in the cavernous old wooden-floored gymnasium, the three-story building has a room for nearly every purpose.

The cornerstone was laid May 1, 1929, with the help of town benefactress Mary Elizabeth Hawley, who donated some $750,000 of her personal fortune for its construction. Although she was gravely ill, she still managed to show up on a cold, rainy day to slap some cement on a layer of bricks as the building was dedicated. It was named for her maternal great-grandfather, Judge William Edmond, a native of Waterbury born in 1755.

Miss Hawley did not live to see the completion of Edmond Town Hall but she must have felt satisfied knowing it would prove a focus for community activities in Newtown for decades to come.

With tender loving care and as much money as their budget will allow, a small group of residents has worked hard over the years to maintain Edmond Town Hall and ensure it is ready for whatever its future role will be.

Oversight By The Board Of Managers

Historically, it has been the job of a six-person Board of Managers to supervise operations and make decisions about maintenance and improvements at Edmond Town Hall.

Initially, Miss Hawley gave the town $250,000 for its maintenance. Today, the board has the use of the income from this amount or approximately $45,000 a year.

“That’s about enough to pay the utility bills,” joked Edgar Beers, chairman of the Board of Managers. The other managers are David Brown, Jay Gill, Ann Krane, Sandra Motyka, and Marie Sturdevant. Mr Beers is coming up on the end of his third six-year term in December, but he would like to remain involved when the Silver Jubilee year rolls around.

All expenses and projects beyond the Hawley Fund must be funded by the town through its yearly budget process or by special grants.

For the upcoming 2003–2004 budget year, though the Board of Managers asked for $175,000 (which was no more than they got the year before), the selectmen reduced their request once and the Board of Finance reduced it again. If the budget passes April 22, the managers will have $125,000 to work with in addition to the interest from Miss Hawley’s bequest.

“Any cut hurts, but it’s not going to hurt as much where we have small projects already underway. And we’ve been fixing things as we go along,” said Mr Beers.

He betrayed a bit of Yankee pride in his board’s ability to be frugal –– doing its best while “making do” in a tough budget year.

Sometimes extra funds are found for particular projects, as when $400,000 was budgeted for a new slate roof four years ago. Or when $75,000 in Local Capital Improvements Projects (LOCIP) funds were used recently to fix the ventilation system at the movie theater.

The projects can be as big as the new roof or as small as new fixtures in the bathrooms.

New paint in the town clerk’s and tax collector’s offices was the most recent improvement.

“We went with antique blue and gray colors,” Mr Beers said.

And if employees do not like the new colors, “they will have to live with them. We only repaint every five years,” he added.

“Every project is a new adventure,” he said, thinking with pleasure about the $56,000 sidewalk project where a new surface material called Bomanite was used.

“Despite some flack in the beginning,” Bomanite sidewalks are proving quite popular around town, he said, adding with satisfaction, “the bank is doing it and the borough is doing it.”

Currently, the Board of Managers is working to complete a renovation of an ancient electrical system that had been routed under what he called the “selectmen’s porch.” Anyone walking by can see where this work is underway, as bare bricks on the north side of the building are exposed and construction tape surrounds the area.

“We found asbestos in there and had to pipe it out before the utility people would even go in. And there were PCBs under the porch. The workers wouldn’t touch that stuff. So CL&P came in and pumped it out. Now the electrical panels are outside in a brand new green metal container, where we can get at them,” Mr Beers said. It is just one more example of fixing things as you go while planning for the future.

 

Up Next: A Handicapped-Accessible Elevator

One could almost say about Mr Beers and the other Edmond Town Hall managers, “they’ve got a little list.” At least, there is a definite logic to the sequence of renovations and repairs, and whether everything gets done sooner or later is not as important as that it gets done and in the correct order.

“First we repaired the roof to keep them dry,” said Mr Beers.

“Then we fixed the sidewalk so they could get in the door. Now we’re going to add an elevator to take them where they want to go.”

The new elevator will replace the antique original, which is too small for handicapped use and features a classic 1930s metal cage door.

“It still works, but it needs repairs and both the doors have to be closed for it to move. The metal tape broke that tells us where the car is, and we were going to have to spend $3,000 in labor just to fix that,” Mr Beers said. So having to replace the entire elevator is a blessing in disguise, he said.

The elevator will be accessible from a handicapped entrance on the ground floor near the gymnasium, and it will go up three floors to the Alexandria Room, a spacious hall with stage that is often used for recitals, small parties, and receptions.

The expense of installing the new elevator will be covered largely by funds not to exceed $1 million that were approved by townspeople in a bond issue voted in June 2001 at the same time the Fairfield Hills purchase was approved. An additional Small Cities grant of $500,000 is also available for the elevator project.

Meanwhile, groups using the top floor rooms at Edmond Town Hall, such as the Chamber of Commerce which has been renting space since August, or the building architects who have taken the old employees’ lounge for their “war room,” will have to continue climbing the stairs or take their chances in the old elevator.

Renovations to the Alexandria Room and its spacious but outdated kitchen and serving area are further down the list.

No matter what changes take place inside Edmond Town Hall, the Board of Managers is very careful about not altering the exterior of the old building or tampering with its handsome Georgian facade.

“It’s on the National Registry of Historic Buildings, and we try to avoid antagonizing the historic district people,” Mr Beers said.