You have to wonder after all of the careful design and thoughtful effort to transform our dilapidated Town Hall over the past five years into a vital and modernized community resource, how could the current design fall so short of the mark? I can understand the frustration of voters last fall when they approved a woefully inadequate design due to sheer exhaustion and contempt for the project. The selectmen’s design does not fully meet the needs of the current occupants of Town Hall and provides next to nothing for the bulk of the town’s elected and appointed boards. We were assured at the Special Town Meeting that the Board of Selectmen would address these deficiencies along the way as they rushed to a vote to avoid further delay. They have not.
I also find it curious that the old library will now be serving as temporary quarters for all of the current staff of Town Hall. When it was previously examined as a possible site, it was deemed too small. What was the big change? How do those offices fit now? The needs of the numerous boards and committees and their meetings, records, and resources have been squeezed out once again.
Perhaps the town offices should remain at the old library (it’s on the town seal after all). After Town Hall is renovated, the refurbished building can be used to accommodate all the other boards and committees whose records are currently stashed away in attics and home offices. Imagine a home for a real culture and recreation department with programs like those in neighboring towns. Maybe then the Town Hall can become become the community gathering place that it was intended to be.
Tim Clark
Bolton Road
Tim Clark is a former selectman and was a member of the former Town Hall Building Committee.
