Voters pass new town offices measure by 30 votes

EAST HAMPTON – Three decades of discussion, debate and delay ended Tuesday when residents very narrowly approved the $18.9 million proposal to build a new town hall/ police department, by less than three dozen votes.

The town council race was so close — only five votes separated the candidates — which will trigger an automatic recount.

Residents barely approved the municipal offices plan by 30 votes, which will see town offices, the police department and the Board of Education all under one roof. The 33,400square-foot building will be built on a 5.4-acre parcel of land in the Edgewater Hills mixed-use development.

The present Town Hall, at 20 East High St., was built in 1946 as a customer service center for Connecticut Light & Power. The town acquired the building in the 1970s. But by 1982, town officials were already beginning to look for alternative locations and/or structures.

And now, some 70 years after it was built, the building is no longer able to accommodate town employees and provide the type of services residents expect, Town Manager Michael Maniscalco has said.

Because its well is tainted by contaminants, Town Hall does not have access to potable water, “which is really something we usually associate with Third World countries,” Maniscalco said. Maniscalco is continually surprised that issue has not become the subject of either a grievance or a lawsuit.

Because of the cramped quarters, consideration was given to adding another floor to the building. But an analysis determined the foundation could not support another floor, the manager said. The building is also subject to flooding, in the finance offices and in police headquarters.

File photo East Hampton Town Hall