East Hampton celebrates its new official town hall

EAST HAMPTON — Quite a few people believed East Hampton needed a new town hall, and they set about to make that dream come true, Town Council Chairman James “Pete” Brown said.

Many of those people and more assembled in front of the new building to celebrate the result of their efforts as the hall was formally dedicated.

Approximately 100 residents turned out Sunday for the mid- afternoon ceremony, which played out under a sublime fall day.

The ceremony capped a process that began in 1973 and continued in fits and starts until 2017, when the then-town council took action to create a new town hall.

The 33,000-square foot building crowns a small rise in the Edgewater Hills mixed-use development.

It includes the police headquarters and the Board Of Education offices in addition to the various town governmental functions to provide “one-stop shopping” for residents, emcee Kevin Reich said.

Three members of the Third Connecticut Regiment Fife & Drum Corps performed a version of “Yankee Doodle,” long a favorite of Gov William O’Neill.”

“I can’t say enough about the people” who stepped forward to assist in the fulfillment of the dream, Brown said.

“I’m really, really proud of the members of the council, the building committee and all the other parts of the process,” Brown said.

There were the architects, the contractors, the town staff – and the residents who approved the purchase and whose tax dollars are paying it.

As he appraised the new building, Reich said, “They hit it out of the ballpark!”

“Thousands of hours of work have brought us here today,” Town Manager David E. Cox said.

Like virtually everything else this year, the move, which was originally slated for April, was delayed by the coronavirus, Cox acknowledged.

Town staff moved into the new building May 11, and the building was opening to the public in June, Cox said.

Amid the pride there also were poignant moments.

Ann McKinney was a teacher at the Middle Haddam elementary school in 1976.

She encouraged her class of fourth-graders to create a time capsule.

“We wanted the world to know all the marvels of our modern life,” McKinney said.

The capsule was buried on the grounds of the Town Hall at 33 East High St.

It was dug up this year, cleaned and installed in a new more secure case and re-buried on the grounds of the new building.

The building is located in her late husband Robert “Red” McKinney’s old neighborhood, McKinney said.

As she remembered him, McKinney became emotional as she also remembered three young men from that fourth grade class “who have all passed away.”

A plaque honoring McKinney was hung in the new town hall, as a mark of respect for his long and varied service to the town.

Flanked by 10 grandchildren, Ann McKinney said if residents knew her husband, “You made his life better because you were his friend.”

Finally, at 2:38 p.m., some 20 councilors and building committee members snuggled up together in front of the Hall as Brown used oversize scissors to cut a pale blue ribbon.

The dream then officially became a reality.