Committee forms to evaluate elementary building's possibilities

NORTH EAST — The town of North East and the village of Millerton have formed a committee to evaluate the feasibility of converting the Millerton Elementary School building into a future site for the Village and Town halls, with extra space to be used for community purposes.

According to its mission statement, “The main part of the Evaluation Committee will be to conduct the evaluation process, report to and present recommendations to the Town and Village boards.�

The committee will consist of two people from each municipality and three from the community at large. At the Jan. 13 North East Town Board meeting it was announced that three representatives from the community have already been named: Brian Kaye, a village resident and deputy sheriff from the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, John Crawford, a town resident and local contractor, and Ray Nelson, a village resident and local architect. According to town Supervisor Dave Sherman, the village has likewise appointed its representatives, village Trustees Marty Markonic and Jay Reynolds.

“I think they will all be a great addition,� Sherman said, adding that from the Town Board he and Councilman Dave McGhee will be joining the Evaluation Committee.

There will also be a Resource Subcommittee, shouldering the responsibility of providing informational and technical assistance to the Evaluation Committee. According to the town’s statement, that subcommittee will likely include “community service providers, recreation program providers, the school district, code enforcement officials, law enforcement officials, consulting engineers and others with financial, technical, design or building construction expertise.�

Sherman said the Resource Subcommittee can “be as large as it needs to be.� He said North East Planning Board Chairman and Webutuck Central School District Board of Education President Dale Culver has already expressed interest in joining the group.

“It will be helpful to have somebody from the school board on it,� Sherman said, adding it would also be useful to have community service providers on board. “Ideally, recreation providers will have grounds that may be usable for recreation. Maybe we can have code enforcement officials walk through the facility, too.�

Sherman said the group will need to prepare a report and identify its concerns. It will also need to figure out what may happen in the long term as well as what may need to be done to adapt the building and grounds for municipal, recreation and community use.

Councilman Carl Stahovec offered a dose of reality and said there will be limitations set by the 25,000-square-foot floor plan. The board agreed; it also gave its approval to move forward with Sherman’s proposed plan of attack as well as formally voted in favor of appointing Sherman and McGhee to the Evaluation Committee.

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