New ad-hoc task force established by Millville brass

MILLVILLE — Town Administrator Peter Caruso has created a new ad-hoc advisory task force that will provide guidance and oversight with respect to the town’s grounds, buildings and facilities, including the shuttered Longfellow Municipal Center on Main Street.

The first task of the Town Administrator Advisory Task Force, which includes Caruso, Richard Crivello and Gerald Finn, will be to address the future of the Longfellow Municipal Center, which was permanently closed in 2016 because of serious structural issues. Crivello and Finn are both longtime

residents who have served on various boards and committees over the years.

“The task force will be dealing primarily with facility and grounds utilization, planning and maintenance, starting with the old town hall and whether we should rule it out or come up with an economical repair or reuse of some or all of that building,” Caruso told the selectmen last week.

The municipal center was built in 1850 as the original Longfellow School and is just under 10,000 square feet. It was later re-purposed to serve as the Town Hall.

The building is three stories tall and includes a partially occupied basement, first floor, second floor, and unoccupied attic. A new elevator tower was added to the building in the early 2000s.

The building, however, is in decline and continues to suffer from heating problems, electrical issues and serious moisture and mold concerns, in addition to the structural problems, which were highlighted in a report drafted four years ago by Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger, the engineering firm hired by the town to conduct a structural analysis of the building.

The town is hoping to re-purpose the100-year-old building. Last year, special town meeting voters agreed to convey jurisdiction of the building over to the selectmen who are taking the lead in trying to find a new use for the building by either leasing, selling or rehabilitating.

The American Legion Hall at 290 Main St. was retrofitted two years ago and is serving as Millville’s temporary town hall for at least the next nine years. In 2016, Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger, the engineering firm hired by the town to conduct a structural analysis of the Longfellow Municipal Center confirmed what town officials had known for months – the building is severely damaged and structurally unsafe.

The roof structure over the east wing depends on a large timber truss that spans roughly over the middle of that room. That truss is not functioning as originally intended and the result is that the ceiling is sagging and the north and south walls are bowing outward. There is also damage at the north and south ends of the truss and the original timber connections have failed.

Engineers have said the likely culprit behind the damage is years of punishing New England winters, which have left the 100-year-old building battered and bruised and unfit for occupancy.