The following is Hodge/Oliveri response to space issue question by the Citizen News. Read the response and decide if in fact the promises were kept or broken!
Response to Citizen News Space Issues Question
With all of the time and money the current administration has spent on the additional space issue, they have never asked the residents how they feel about space needs. The proposal to purchase the Druck building, which is currently being considered, continues that sad tradition.
There are many reasons to consider the purchase of this 40,000 square foot building, but the key reason would be to find a home for a much larger library. Do the residents of this town want a significantly larger library? Surprisingly, it doesn’t appear as if they are going to be asked that question prior to spending $20-30,000 to inspect the building. Yet expanding the library is the lynchpin to the entire Druck purchase.
If the residents of town do not want a greatly expanded library then purchasing the Druck Building just doesn’t make sense. We do not need to purchase 40,000 square feet of industrial property if our needs are limited to the following:
(1) A new Senior Center
(2) A Youth/Community center
(3) More space for town offices.
Ron and I will propose the following solution to the town’s space needs if the Druck building is not feasible or if the residents decide that a new library is not in their plans:
(1) Move the BOE to the new Gillotte Road property. The house on that property could be quickly expanded by putting a modular addition onto it. This could be completed in 3-5 months.
(2) Move the Land Use offices and the Park and Recreation Department into the Annex that was vacated by the BOE. The Annex is already used for office space so this move could happen quickly with little or no interruption of services. This would empty the lower level of Town Hall.
(3) Renovate the lower level of Town Hall to accommodate some of the offices upstairs.
(4) Once the lower level has been completed, renovate the upstairs of Town Hall for the remaining Town offices.
(5) Within 120 days of taking office, Ron Oliveri and I guarantee that WE WILL have the first shovel in the ground to build a permanent home for our seniors. The new center could be located at 302 Ball Pond Rd. By the way, we keep hearing how the Druck Building is in the “center of town”. Whether you drive from Town Hall to the Druck Building OR to 302 Ball Pond Rd, both locations are 1/2 mile for the center of town.
(6) Put the issue of a youth center to a town wide referendum. If the answer is “Yes, we want a youth center” (which Ron and I strongly support), it could be located with the senior center on Ball Pond Rd. or we could fold the Youth Center into the High School construction project.
The Druck Building purchase only makes sense if the town people feel there is a need for a new library. A report in the News Times, saying there are two other offers for the Druck building is, in some ways, good news. Druck has been one of the largest taxpayers in New Fairfield, producing almost $100,000 a year in taxes for this town. If we buy that property, its tax revenue will be lost forever. If purchased by someone else, those taxes will go a long way toward paying the debt service for our proposals listed above.
Keep in mind that, in addition to the town’s needs, the Board of Education will soon be bringing significant construction projects to the town. These costs may run into the tens of millions. We also have a school water system upgrade that must be completed by next December. This project alone will cost $2,000,000 or more. When you add all these projects together, we might well need to borrow between $30-50,000,000.
Ron Oliveri and I will solve the town’s space needs, but the key word here is NEEDS, not WANT TO HAVES.
We DO need to listen to the town as to their wishes for a larger library but we DON’T need anymore space studies, and we DON’T need any more delays that force us to pay high rents for the Senior Center. Ron and I will listen to the town’s desires regarding the library and move forward to rapidly solve the Town’s space needs. Let’s take action now!
