Date: Fri 16-Jul-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Edmond-Town-Hall-managers

Full Text:

Board Of Managers Gives Qualified Support To Town Hall Expansion Plan

BY STEVE BIGHAM

The Town Hall Board of Managers Tuesday gave its unanimous support to a town

plan to build a 23,000-square-foot addition to Edmond Town Hall. However, the

endorsement came with stipulations.

First, the board will go along with the proposal so long as the addition (to

be paid for by the town) gets the support of taxpayers. Secondly, it agrees to

the plan insofar as the $11 million addition and improvements "do not

interfere with or otherwise impair" the board of managers' ability to perform

the activities and functions for which town hall is designed.

"We still want to be in charge of the town hall kitchen, Alexandria Room,

gymnasium and movie theater," explained board member and lifelong resident

Bill Honan.

The motion, written by board member David Brown, appears to seek assurance

from the town that the managers will continue to have the same kind of

authority over the building they have had since town hall was first opened in

the early 1930s. However, that is not the case, according to members.

"The motion was not to give the Board of Managers perpetual powers that don't

already exist. It was simply stating that we aren't going to step in the way

of construction if the taxpayers want to go along with it," Mr Brown said.

The managers are not all in agreement on whether or not they want the

addition. Some want it, some don't, and some would rather see a smaller

addition -- one that does not include office space for the Board of Education.

The managers do agree, however, on the importance of preserving the finer

points of the building.

"We don't want the town to kill those rooms. I don't care if they kill the

Board of Managers," Mr Honan said.

That said, Mr Honan reminded town officials that someone will still have to

run Edmond Town Hall, even if it is not the managers.

Newtown resident Bob Hall, who was a member of the municipal space needs

committee, has said he favors both the addition to Edmond Town Hall and a

significantly reduced role for the Board of Managers. He was the one who

originally suggested that the managers officially endorse the project to give

the plan more credibility.

The Board of Managers finally agreed to endorse the plan this week after last

week's discussion with the Board of Selectmen. At that meeting, the selectmen

assured the managers that much-needed (and very expensive) improvements to the

building's entire infrastructure would be paid for whether an addition is

approved by the town or not. The fate of the infrastructure improvements to

Edmond Town Hall is not tied to the town's search for additional office space,

according to First Selectmen Herb Rosenthal.

The managers had complained of feeling out of the loop during the space

panel's 15-month study. The managers said they were rarely consulted despite

the fact that many of those recommendations in the space needs report were

already being taken care of.

"We need to know how we can plan. We don't know what to do one month from now,

one year from now," Board of Managers chairman Edgar Beers said.

As for the Board of Managers' future role in governing the building, board

member Marie Sturdevant said it will simply have to be put on hold.

"There's no point in discussing that until we find out if (the addition) is

going to happen," she said.

And that probably will not be any time soon, Mr Honan figures. He does not

expect the town hall issue to be resolved until after the Fairfield Hills

issue is addressed, which is a matter for the Board of Selectmen to tackle.