Millvillians invited to new town hall offices
MILLVILLE – The community was officially welcomed into the the newlyrefurbished American Legion Hall on Main Street – the town’s new town hall – at an open house Wednesday, and for town residents walking through the front doors for the first time, the transformation was nothing short of amazing.
“It’s a miracle,” exclaimed one resident. “Before, this building used to be dark and dingy. Now, it’s absolutely gorgeous.”
That was pretty much the reaction from just about everyone who came out for the four-hour open house, which included guided tours, refreshments and a chance to get an up-close look at what has been a year-long project to convert the Legion Hall into a new home for Millville’s municipal government operations.
“It’s the best of the best,” said one resident. “They did an incredible job.”
With the help of Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School students and other volunteers, the town has spent the better part of a year retrofitting the American Legion Hall at 290 Main St. as a temporary town hall after the existing Longfellow Municipal Center on Central Street was shuttered in the
summer of 2016 because of serious structural issues.
During that time, town hall employees worked in cramped quarters at the police station.
More than 70 students Blackstone Valley Tech helped with the project by offering their drafting, plumbing, electrical and HVAC skills for free.
The building boasts a brand new ADA-compliant vestibule, a new energy-efficient boiler, a state-of-the-art selectmen’s meeting room that includes a ceiling-mounted projector and drop-down projection screen, cameras and a control room for videotaping meetings.
The building has a break room, two bathrooms, a multi-purpose room and larger, wide-open room that provides the main office space for town departments.
The town has entered into a formal agreement with Millville-Memorial American Legion Post 411 to lease the Legion Hall, which will house municipal offices and town operations for at least the next 36 months.
Most of the accessories, from furniture to file cabinets, were purchased below cost from the state’s surplus property program, which enabled the town to save tens of thousands of dollars on new furnishings.
The local business community also came through, like Peterson Oil, which donated the new boiler installed by Valley Tech students; P.T. Floors in Woonsocket, which donated and installed all of the carpet; and Landry Construction, which replaced all of the soffits, to name just a few.
And Millville’s new town hall might be the only town hall in the Blackstone Valley with a water feature – a bubbling, picturesque waterfall that greets visitors as they drive up the driveway.
“It’s been a labor of love with a few trials and tribulations thrown in,” said Town Administrator Jennifer Callahan, who along with Selectmen Chairman Joseph Rapoza, was on hand yesterday to greet visitors.
“The response so far has been extremely positive,” Rapoza said. “I think folks coming here tonight for the firt time are going to be pleasantly surprised by what they see.”
Callahan said the building has a modern footprint that will enable town government to function efficiently for years to come, adding that a $57,000 grant the town recently recieved has helped equip the new town hall with new e-permitting software, all new accounting and financial software, a new GIS system, new telephone system, a dozen new computers and capability to revamp the town’s web site.
“This will really change how we deliver customer service,” she said.
The new space also boasts the latest in energy efficiency, including new windows and lighting, a new boiler and new HVAC system.
Callahan said town hall employees are ecstatic with their new digs.
“Everyone’s happy because everything is here in one location,” she said. “It really changes the way we all communicate with one another.”
Callahan saved special thanks for Millville-Memorial American Legion Post 411 for helping to make the project a reality.
“They worked with us right from the beginning and I’m sure there will be options for a long-term lease,” she said. “I think we will be calling this home for a while.”
Callahan said a separate event will be held in the fall to publicly acknowledge the many donors and volunteers, including students from the Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School, who took part in the refurbishing project.
What will eventually happen with the old town hall is still in question.
Last October, an engineering firm hired by the town to conduct a structural analysis of the ailing Longfellow Municipal Center confirmed what town officials have known for months – the 100-year-old building closed since July of 2016 is severely damaged and structurally unsafe.
The current Millville Town Hall 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 sto- ries 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 concerns, in addition the structural problems.
The deterioration has become so bad in recent years that the town hired a engineering firm two years ago to assess the building. A structural engineer did a walkthrough and came up with a laundry list of problems, a majority of them structural in nature.
In July of 2016, Callahan received a letter from town Building Commissioner Larry Lench deeming the Longfellow Municipal Center “unsafe for occupancy.” A decision was then made to close the building.