Committee to consider school building’s future

MILLERTON — Provided that North East Central School District (also known as Webutuck) taxpayers give permission to the Board of Education (BOE) to give away its Millerton Elementary School (MES) building, a committee of local municipal leaders and residents from the village of Millerton and the town of North East are deciding whether to take joint ownership of the building.If the transaction were to occur, it would be the second school building the district would essentially give away. Two years ago district taxpayers gave the OK for the BOE to donate the former Amenia Elementary School building to the town of Amenia for use as a Town Hall. That transaction was completed last summer, and Town Hall opened in its new location this past fall.School board President Dale Culver explained that the district’s goal, which goes back seven or eight years, was to consolidate to a central campus on Haight Road. The Amenia transaction was done first because, when the board proposed both ideas to the three municipalities, Amenia was “deemed the most likely to follow through.”Amenia was also a “sole-entity town,” according to Culver, who said there would be less confusion regarding which government would play what role in the transaction. With MES, there are two distinct governments, with both an existing Village Hall and Town Hall, which the two municipalities currently operate out of.To help with the decision regarding the Millerton building, a committee was formed in March, comprised of representatives from both the village and town boards, as well as several local residents. Their goal is to evaluate the building and grounds for potential municipal and community use.But the likelihood of the two governments accepting the building is still up in the air, according to interviews with Millerton Mayor John Scutieri and North East town Supervisor Dave Sherman.“I’m absolutely 50/50 right now,” said Scutieri, noting the space is huge, about 25,000-square feet in size. “It’s a very expensive building, and my first reaction is that the village doesn’t need that expense.”But, the mayor allowed, if the town and village halls were to be sold and put back on the tax rolls, some of those extra expenses would be offset.“My goal is to look at this practically,” the mayor said, “and to figure out a way to do it so it doesn’t impact taxpayers. If we can make a transition and give ourselves more space and a more user-friendly area, I would lean in favor of it.”Probably the biggest difference between the village and town is that Town Hall currently needs more office space.“It’s a little bit of a squeeze for the folks who are here,” Sherman acknowledged, saying that while operations run smoothly, things could be better.“We just don’t have the space to accommodate [residents and their needs],” he added. “We are sharing space here and are constantly in the process of borrowing offices.”Sherman said that the expenses involved would be high and would likely be the deciding factor in the committee’s decision. Energy efficiency would be a big issue to consider, as well as the possibility that the roof might need to be replaced. Both Scutieri and Sherman said that moving forward the committee would be working with consultants to get more definitive cost estimates and realistic projections about the condition of the building.But the two local governments are not the only entities with stakes in the building. The North East Community Center (NECC) has been renting rooms in the building for the past five years, said NECC Executive Director Jenny Hansell, and would be looking to continue a similar arrangement or even expand under new owners.“We are very eager to stay involved and to assist in anything we can do to help the process,” she said. NECC runs after-school programs as well as GED classes in conjunction with Dutchess Community College out of the three rooms it currently rents at MES.That lease runs out at the end of this year, and Hansell said a request has been put in to extend the lease on a month-to-month basis until it’s more clear what the future of the building will be.“The board has been incredibly great to work with and very helpful,” Hansell said. “They’ve been very flexible to help us keep programs there.”Another entity that has been mentioned by Culver as showing interest in the building is American Legion Post 178, currently located on Route 44 East, heading toward the Connecticut border, but details of any possible plans have been few and far between. Post Commander Lee Garay did not return a call for comment, and Sherman said that aside from press reports quoting Culver listing the entities interested in the building, he hasn’t heard anything about the Legion’s involvement.“They’ve done a good job over at the building they have now as far as recent repairs,” he said, “and I was always led to believe that they were very comfortable with what they have.”Again, if taxpayers grant the BOE permission to donate MES during the budget vote later this month, Scutieri said that by July or August, at the latest, he hopes the committee will have reached a solution.“It’s a grand old building,” said Hansell. “Fifteen-foot ceilings, huge windows … Every time I go to a meeting, someone has a story about going to school there. There are wonderful memories of that building and it holds a lot of history for the town. It would be so sad if it just sat there empty, so I think it’s fantastic that different entities are working together and collaborating here.”

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