Town Board members look to slow down move into new Town Hall

AMENIA — Just as quickly as it looked like the town of Amenia was going to move Town Hall offices into its new location in the former Amenia Elementary School building, members of the Town Board urged town Supervisor Wayne Euvrard to put the brakes on the project, at least for another month, to make sure the process is done right.

In a front page article in last week’s paper, Euvrard said he was shooting to be completely moved out of Town Hall’s current location by the end of this month.

But members of the Town Board, especially Vicki Doyle and Darlene Riemer, both felt strongly at last week’s July 8 Town Board meeting that it was too ambitious a timeline and called for the move to be postponed another month.

“I think we need a scope of work,� Riemer pointed out, calling for the town to step back and really think about the logistics of the move. Some of the rooms have plaster falling off the walls, she pointed out. “You can’t just take a classroom and put three desks in it,� she added. “I think we need a larger plan.�

Euvrard pointed out that one of the companies he’d contacted about the physical move had given him graph paper outlining the different rooms. The supervisor said that he’d in turn given each department the chance to lay out how their new offices would look.

“I think we need more than just that,� Riemer persisted.

She pointed out that several rooms were in bad need of painting.

Euvrard, who is a retired corrections officer, said he had been trying to coordinate a time for an inmate work crew to come and paint, but it was harder to schedule than he anticipated. Now the town’s summer recreation program is using the building and the inmates won’t be allowed to work near them, he added. But Euvrard insisted that he would have the areas in dire need of a paint-job worked on as soon as the town has ownership of the building.

Discussion at the board meeting eventually turned into an invitation to the Town Board members, and the public, to stop by the building for a tour Monday morning, at which point the supervisor could show what work and planning had been done.

There are of course many small issues that will have to be addressed, ranging from a particularly rank sink in the former principal’s office on the second floor (which Euvrard intends to use as the supervisor’s office) to the size and placement of the lavatory fixtures in some of the bathrooms, which were well proportioned for elementary school children but could pose logistical problems for full-grown adults.

At the July 8 board meeting, resident Charlotte Murphy said that parking in the lower parking area of the building would be difficult for many people. Euvrard said there would be handicapped parking available near the front entrance, and that there was just as much parking at the school as there was at the firehouse. But, as Murphy pointed out, the school building is at a much higher elevation than its parking lot.

“That’s going to be a problem,� she said. “You don’t have to be handicapped to have trouble getting up those steps.�

Several people mentioned on the tour that the rooms were uncomfortably warm, and Planning Board Chairman Bill Flood suggested using more of the split-system air conditioning units (there was only one among the rooms on the tour, and it was in the principal’s office) rather than individual window units.

Of the second floor, only three rooms would be utilized by the town, Euvrard said. He mentioned that he had been in talks with the post office and the state police as well as a private citizen about the possibility of renting out space, but an issue with the school might hamper those discussions. Euvrard said Webutuck had originally asked to retain two rooms for storage, which Euvrard had agreed to, but later asked for four. That issue has not yet been resolved.

As Euvrard pointed out at the Town Board meeting and again during the walk-through, another month of rent at the firehouse would be $2,500.

“We’ve budgeted for six months rent [at the firehouse],� he said at the July 8 meeting. “It would be silly to have ownership of that building and still pay rent... I think [a move by the end of July] can be done.�

“I’m trying to save the town money,� he later reiterated near the end of a recent walk-through on Monday. “I was planning on moving in the end of July, but I suppose it’s a Town Board decision. And I can’t do it without ownership.�

The only issue left to be resolved with the school is that Webutuck has to officially sit down and have the final closing on the building, Riemer said.

There was no official discussion on where the moving schedule stood following the walkthrough. The issue is expected to be resolved at the Town Board meeting July 15, probably by vote, to be held at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, which for now is still located at 36B Mechanic St.

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