Like the boll weevil in an old song, Town Hall is once again “just lookin’ for a home.”
On Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen voted to start a fresh search for temporary office space to rent for 12 to 18 months, beginning in April 2015, while Town Hall is being renovated. The selectmen directed Town Administrator Tim Bragan to send out an RFP (request for proposals) from potential landlords by next week.
A limited range of choices
An obviously frustrated Bragan pointed out that both Town Meeting and the selectmen themselves had set conditions for the new office space that severely restricted the scope of the search. The selectmen had voted to consider only offices within the borders of Harvard, and Bragan said Town Meeting had directed the board to choose the least expensive option. In fact, that direction came not from Town Meeting, but from the selectmen in several discussions this fall, although some board members were more committed to the idea than others.
In any case, the selectmen quickly reversed their own vote limiting the search to Harvard. Selectwoman Lucy Wallace moved that they consider facilities within an 8-mile radius of the center of town “as the crow flies.” This distance, which selectmen had set once before, would allow for temporary use of office space in Devens and in parts of several neighboring towns.
Selectman Ron Ricci objected that the distance was too great and might require townspeople to drive 20 or 30 minutes to get to town offices. But Selectman Leo Blair drew a laugh when he quipped, “This is Harvard. Don’t we drive 35 minutes to get a quart of milk?” The motion for the 8-mile radius passed.
Looking for the least expensive option
Bragan then brought up the requirement that the board choose the least expensive option for the office space. Earlier in the discussion, Bragan had argued strongly for the use of the old library, now the Center on the Common, saying, “The least expensive [option] is to move into a building that we own.”
But a half-dozen members of the Harvard community had come to the meeting to hear whether the BOS might take over the Center, ending the arts programs there at least temporarily. And several selectmen seemed reluctant to evict them. (See story, page 1)
Ricci argued for keeping open the possibility of using the Center’s space, and he seemed to expect support from Blair, but he didn’t get it.
In the end Ricci himself moved that the board direct Bragan to send out the RFP for rental office space, with the lease to begin on April 1, 2015. The motion passed unanimously. But come mid-January, once the board has bids in hand, the selectmen will weigh their options again, and as of Tuesday night, the Center on the Common, aka the old library, remains one of them.
