During a routine report to her board June 15, First Selectman Pat Llodra said she wants an ad-hoc panel assessing possible future use or repurposing of several public buildings to be prepared to consider Hawley School, if or when the Board of Education determines that facility will be closed.

Mrs Llodra and the Board of Selectmen appointed its Municipal Buildings Strategic Plan Advisory Committee (MBSPAC) to initially look at the best possible public uses and viability of the current Hook & Ladder headquarters, the Multipurpose Building that houses the Senior Center and the Children’s Adventure Center, and Town Hall South, the current home of several town agencies, including the police department and local emergency dispatch center.

Mrs Llodra related that MBSPAC consultant Geralyn Hoerauf of Diversified Project Management had little to report, except that the committee’s space needs and facilities assessment engineer Ken Best will have enough information compiled to present his first formal analyses to the committee on June 29, and to selectmen on July 6.

Mr Best represents Drummey Rosane Anderson, Inc (DRA), a South Windsor firm that employs architects, planners, interior designers, and construction administrators that serve both municipal and commercial clients throughout the Northeast.

Mrs Llodra said she is planning to ask the facilities panel to be ready to take on the task of analyzing how the town might use or repurpose the Church Hill Road elementary school building.

“Hawley School is not in our public building portfolio, and won’t be in it until the Board of Education discontinues use of the facility as a school,” the first selectman said.

Mrs Llodra said School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, and members of the school board would make themselves available to both the selectmen and MBSPAC members when and if that discussion arises.

“There are no plans for the school building until it comes under town control,” Mrs Llodra said, adding that when Ms Hoerauf appears at the July 6 selectmen’s meeting, she will ask about the committee’s readiness to discuss the matter if the process moves forward to the point that Hawley’s closing appears imminent.

Poet Laureate Proposed

In other business, the selectmen charged Newtown’s Cultural Arts Commission to solicit applications in anticipation of appointing the community’s first poet laureate. Laura Lerman, NCAC chair, appeared to review the commission’s efforts to date.

She said the commission reviewed a number of communities that already had a poet laureate, and discovered the process to install those cultural diplomats was quite varied.

In the Town of Washington, an interested individual simply contacted the community’s first selectman and was appointed immediately over the phone. In Manchester, candidates for the post were pitted against one another in front of an audience, which was ultimately responsible for judging who should receive the appointment.

Ms Lerman said Ginny Connors, the former poet laureate of West Hartford, has volunteered to assist Newtown’s commission in the process. She explained that in addition to serving as “an ambassador to [Newtown’s] greater arts community,” the soon-to-be-appointed poet laureate would help to “foster appreciation of the literary arts.”

Mrs Llodra said she believes the Cultural Arts Commission is the best body to head up the selection process, and to make recommendations. Ms Lerman said she and the commission would like to expedite the process so the individual could be revealed during this September’s Cultural Arts Festival.

A draft application will be posted on the commission’s website, newtownartscommission.org.

Research notes Ms Lerman provided to selectmen showed the commission incorporated Connecticut state poet laureate application guidelines into the local process. The local post should expect to serve a three-year term, mirroring that of local cultural arts commissioners.

None of the local poet laureates receive compensation for their work, although the state’s official poet gets a $1,000 stipend. Being a Newtown resident appears to be the sole qualifying criteria for the local post; however, that individual must remain a resident to hold the position, excluding students who may be away at school.

Newtown’s nomination/application deadline will be August 1.