New Lebanon’s Town Hall Saga

by Thaddeus Flint
At the April 11 meeting of the New Lebanon Town Board, the latest installment of the Tale of the New Lebanon Town Hall came to light.
New Lebanon already has a Town Hall of course. But some people are not satisfied with it. This is understandable. It’s an old building and along the way some people seemed to have ignored it, and now it’s slowly falling apart and needs big money to fix it.
So somewhere along the way the idea was put out there that maybe what New Lebanon needed was to fix and enlarge the old Town Hall or get a new one. A Town Hall Committee was formed, and the Town Hall Committee spent a lot of time talking and analyzing different options and developing what they believed were the most cost effective solution. This took a little while, and what they came back with was that they needed $815,000. This was a lot of money, and so the Town authorized a referendum.  That referendum, held in June of 2010, was defeated. Apparently the residents felt that spending that much wasn’t a good idea.
Back to the drawing board. More meetings were held, conversations had, plans planned. And back to the Board came the Committee. This time they asked for $435,000. They would fix the old hall for less. Save a bundle.  That might be true, but residents didn’t seem to want to spend that much either on rebuilding a building which probably should never have been allowed to get into the state it was in the first place. They defeated that referendum, too.
Perhaps a pattern was developing here. Three hundred and nineteen residents voted in the first referendum, and it was knocked down by 63 votes. Two hundred and seventy residents voted in the second referendum, and this time it was only blocked by 40 votes. Maybe three times is a charm? Town residents seemed to be losing interest in voting against it.
Yet it still came as a surprise when the Town Hall Committee brought their latest proposal to the Town Board last Monday night. After more meetings and conversations, they had decided on a new location for the Town Hall. The location they felt most suited the needs of the Town was an empty building on Routes 20 and 22 just north of the fire department originally know as Judy’s Gifts. Across the street is the Off Track Betting. But the OTB is moving, and a Hannaford Supermarket, it is hoped, is going to be built on that spot. Admittedly Judy’s Gifts is quite nice and new. It’s centrally located. It has plenty of space. Parking is ample. The property will most likely increase in value as a commercial spot once the supermarket is up and running. The price offered to the Town is now $450,000.
Of course that $450,000 is just for the building. Already it’s $15,000 more than what was asked for at the last referendum. The cost of turning a gift shop into a town hall does not come cheap either. The committee estimates around $360,000 would be needed there. Total cost – $810,000.
What the Town Hall Committee was now asking the Town Board for was $2,500 to hire the architect Joe Luviene to see if it was feasible to continue looking at Judy’s Gifts as an option.
Now here is a curious detail. The Town of Berlin, just up the road a few miles, is in a similar situation. They want a new town hall. The site they are looking at was once Berlin Lumber. It’s gigantic. A nice house is included as well as various out buildings and garages which could be used as the Town Garage. In fact they would have so much space they could rent the excess to the County. Obviously the house would need alterations to be turned into a town hall, but right now the price for everything is $474,000!
So the obvious question here is is New Lebanon being asked to pay too much?
The Town Board had some questions, too. Town Supervisor Margaret Robertson wondered if it would be such a good idea to remove this building from the tax rolls.  Presumably it could be profitably operated by a private concern when Hannaford arrives. Council Member Doug Clark wanted to know more about the other options that had presumably been studied and rejected. “There is a level of obligation here because there are public funds involved,” he said. “You need to make a paper trail to show what you considered. I’m really disappointed with the process.” He also asked, “In the end can we put something before the voters which the voters are going to agree on?” This is a good question, especially when this project is $375,000 more expensive than the last one that was voted down.
The problem with the building committee seems to be the building committee. “Current members seemed to have alienated past members,” said Clark. While those from the committee at the Board meeting of April 11 were obviously doing the best they could with the information they had, they didn’t seem to have all the information they needed, so they go in circles. Members of the committee were too polite to name names, but as one member said, “I haven’t seen half the people on the building committee at the meetings.” Presumably having all the members of the committee attend the committee meetings would solve this, or maybe not. But something probably has to be done if this project is ever going to be completed. In the end, the Town Board did do something.  It seemed like they didn’t really want to do it, but, with some hesitation, they put the $2,500 expenditure for an architect’s analysis to a vote. The vote passed 3 to 1 with Clark voting against.
Theater Barn Complaint
Joan Phelps, Executive Director of the Theater Barn located on Route 20, filed a complaint with the Board. She explained that during a May March snow storm a county snow plow caused damage to the property of the Theater Barn. Snow was plowed in such a way as to plug a run-off culvert with snow and other debris. The plow also knocked down the sign to the entrance of the Theater Barn which had been in place since 1989. The side of the road also had “the living bejeezus torn out of it,” said Phelps.
When the weather warmed back up, the snow thrown up onto the property melted and had no place to go. Instead of draining through the culvert it drained into the Theater Barn and the Cast House located nearby. Perhaps the snow was looking for a show? The snow should have checked the website of the Theater at www.theaterbarn.com. Shows do not start until July 1 when the summer season opens with the delightful farce, Boeing – Boeing. Phelps also pointed out that because the theater’s sign has been knocked down people driving by are confused by a FOR SALE sign selling an adjacent property. They have told Phelps it was sad the Theater Barn was closing after all these years. The Theater Barn is in fact not closed. So if you are one of those people who saw the FOR SALE sign and said to yourself “Ah, I wish I had gone to the Theater Barn before it closed” you are in luck. Tickets are on sale now. In regards to the water which refuses to leave, Town Superintendent Robertson acknowledged that there was a problem and that she believed Town Highway Superintendent Jeff Winestock would be at work clearing the culvert by the end of this month.