At the start of this term of council, council was called into a meeting titled, “ Office Accommodation Review Update“…. it should of been called ” Million dollar new town hall meeting”. I did bring that up later at a meeting that we need to be clear when posting agendas and topics to the town website to let our residents know exactly what we are discussing and potentially voting on. The report below that I took screen shots of is currently NOT on the website. If you would like a copy feel free to ask me, I can forward the full report to you.
In 2016 dollars major renovations were recommended for Town Hall and a new build was something council was asked to consider. There are currently many challenges to both Essex Town Hall and Gesto, space being a major one.
During the meeting, council at the time did not move forward with a green light for town hall but rather we asked administration to look into options. I think we need to put the cork in any new building and look at consolidating what we already have. After all can you imagine what the costs would be now with 2021-2022 dollars?
Can the Harrow High School Building be considered an option? Why not? It is newer than many of our existing buildings! Could council potentially do the right thing and make both urban centers of our town municipal hubs?
The time is now to make scars of the past go away and to heal the community and invest in both ends.
