It’s still only in the napkin drawing stage of development, said Rochester Town Administrator Michael McCue to the Board of Selectmen on December 14, but a plan to explore the construction of a new town-owned annex building has now shifted towards a new town hall exploration among members of a town annex study committee.
During a meeting of the annex committee last week, McCue said they talked about potential floor plans and associated costs such as elevators and maintenance, and what makes sense most to them now is a new, bigger town hall to unite all town departments under one roof for efficiency.
Selectman Naida Parker seemed rather skeptical of the notion, recalling how Town Meeting voters in the past did not warm up to the idea of a more costly town hall.
“I’d be really interested to see how it moves forward,” said Parker. She said residents were attached to the town hall because of its historic nature. “They’re not enthusiastic about having a town hall somewhere else.”
Although he loathed the analogy, McCue told selectmen nobody was about to put the cart before the horse. This was only an early discussion, he emphasized.
“This is the time to do it,” suggested Selectmen Chairman Richard Nunes. “Interest rates will be going up…. And this building isn’t getting any younger.”
Nunes said it is no secret that the town is anxious to cease paying for rented buildings used for municipal purposes.
Parker said, though, that if she knew a town hall was to be explored by the committee, she might have looked more closely at the overall composition of the committee during the appointment process.
“You need to get more involvement from staff … as to what works and what doesn’t,” she said.
“Those conversations have been taking place,” said McCue. “We are not doing this (planning) in a vacuum.”
Parker maintained that only a town annex feasibility discussion was planned for the committee, and she was unaware the scope would be broadened.
“I don’t want the Board of Selectmen to think this is a done deal,” McCue said. “But other conversations about other alternatives have been shut off.”
You would need a backup plan, though, Parker told him. With large projects come Proposition 2½ overrides and if voters were to reject a town hall plan, “We’re going to be putting ourselves back at square one.”
“In this town, it’s only going to keep growing,” said McCue. “We need to make sure that whatever we move forward with has that in mind.”
Nunes and Parker wanted to look at a couple of additional plans to present to voters, including building onto the old town hall.
“But once you touch that, then everything has to be up to code and everything in this building is not up to code,” said Nunes, following that with an ‘oops.’ “I didn’t just say that, did I?” Yes, you did, Parker said.
The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for December 21 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
By Jean Perry
