At the recent 9/26/2016 Tri-Board Meeting, Gilbane Construction revealed that the cost of renovations and expansion of the Town Hall will increase by 3.57 million dollars over the 5.13 million dollars originally approved at a Town Meeting in 2015, bringing the total to 8.7 million dollars.
The increase is due to a plan to increase the size of the Town Hall to accommodate more offices and meeting space.
The Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance discussed the merits of this new plan which can be found in the Minutes of the Meeting.
I encourage residents to read the minutes of the meeting which can be found on the Town of Suffield website.
Suffield is currently confronted with three major capital expenditure projects, in addition to roads, comprised of the Town Hall, the Kent Memorial Library and the Bridge Street School.
This first is a much needed project, the second is a highly desirable project and the third is a questionable yet nice to have project.
I support the needed renovations and expansion of the Town Hall as a good vision for the Town of Suffield. The KML is almost a given unless significant more funding is required.
If additional monies are proposed for the Bridge Street School, I will be opposed to the Town Hall Expansion, since there is only so much money to go around.
Both of these issues should be voted on by a referendum.