‘No reason why we can’t get this done’

Scaled-back Town Hall specs pass council muster

EAST HAMPTON » The Board of Finance on Monday voted to approve the proposal to build a new police station/town hall.

The board voted 4-2 to move along the $18.98 million proposal.

Members acted after reviewing details of the proposal with project architect Anthony J. Amenta and a discussion of the anticipated impact on the town’s finances by Director of Finance Jeffrey M. Jylkka.

Amenta presented an outline of the proposed 33,400-squarefoot, two-story building, verbally walking finance board members through the interior using two oversized diagrams, one for each floor.

If approved by residents, the building will be built on a 5.4acre parcel of land in the Edgewater Hills mixed-use development, which is roughly a mile east of the present Town Hall.

The existing Town Hall — which was built in 1946 to house a CL&P customer service center

— has exhausted its useful life as a public building, officials say.

It is too small, does not meet requirements for access by the handicapped, and has shown indications that it is structurally unstable, according to Town Manager Michael Maniscalco.

The 2,400-square-foot police station is woefully inadequate for use as a headquarters for a modern police department, Police Chief Sean D. Cox has said.

The proposed new building will actually contain three buildings in one, Amenta said.

There will be the main town hall, styled as a classic New England colonial, with a 2,000-square-foot community room on the east side and the 10,000-squarefoot police station on the west side, closest to Route 66, Amenta said.

The Board of Education will be located on the first floor, as will the town clerk and tax collector’s offices and the building department, Amenta said. There will a meeting space for the Town Council on the first floor as well.

The second floor will include the parks and recreation and human and social services offices, as well as separate offices for both the town manager and director of finance, Amenta said.

A training room for the police department located on the first floor can double as an operations center in the event of an emergency, Amenta said.

Board member Alannah Coshow expressed concern about going forward with the project without a fuller “picture of the town’s needs that haven’t been met.”

In particular, Coshow pressed for details about the cost of improving the water quality in Lake Pocotopaug, replacing the Center School boiler, reconstructing the Cobalt fire station, and bringing a water system in the village center. “I would be more comfortable if we had all of that,” she said.

Jylkka said he did not have that information. What he did say is that the town “does have the ability to pay for the project.”

However, when people vote, “they are looking at a willingness to pay. There is a clear distinction between the two,” he added.

What will happen, board member Janine Jiantonio asked, if the plan is rejected by residents. “Is there a Plan B?”

“We’re already on Plan C,” Maniscalco said. “We’re band-aiding together a facility that really is not worth trying to save.”

Coshow suggested reducing the size — and the cost — of the proposed building.

Maniscalco said he and Amenta have already scaled back the proposal in discussions with town staff.

“There’s not a single ‘want’ in there,” Maniscalco said, adding, “We got this down to bare bones, to brass tacks.”

“This is a picture of what we need to run our town,” board Chairman Marc Lambert said. “If it doesn’t pass, then we’ll have to deal with that as a town.”

“This is the first time we have had a plan with a place and with hard numbers,” board member Alan Hurst said.

For too long, the town has hired consultants to review what previous consultants had said, Hurst said. “Now is the time to give it to the voters.”

His board colleague, Dean Markham, reminded Coshow and Jiantonio that just a year ago, the town was talking about spending $40 million to renovate Center School as a police station/town hall.

The current proposal is less than half that cost, Markham stressed.

However, Coshow and Jiantonio were unmoved, and they cast the two no votes.

Hurst, Lambert, Markham and Michael Rose voted to approve the proposal.

Board member Stephen Ritchie was absent.

The vote won approval from a number of residents who spoke after the vote.

“Congratulations. I think you did the right thing tonight,” former Board of Finance chairman Ted Turner said. “There’s no reason why we can’t get this thing done,” Turner said, adding that he hopes the “Doctor No’s” among residents “go through the (present) Town Hall and police station before they vote.”

“Sometimes a building says a lot about a town,” Councilor James “Pete” Brown said in approving the board’s action.

The proposal now goes to the Town Council, which is expected to vote Sept. 5 whether to send it on to a meeting and then a referendum. If the council does, the proposal will be put on the ballot for the Nov. 7 election, Maniscalco said Tuesday morning.

FILE PHOTO