2 min read

NEW SHARON – Selectmen Maynard Webster and Russ Gardner were still organizing at the new town office building 90 minutes before it opened Monday.

People had pitched in over the weekend to make the move to the former SAD 9 Central Office and New Sharon School off Cape Cod Hill Road.

Voters had accepted the building from SAD 9 and agreed to make the move to the new office in September.

The former space that was leased was a bit cramped for town government operations.

Town workers are now using two classrooms and two small offices to house operations.

Town Clerk Rose Mary Eller will use the office of the former SAD 9 administrative assistant and volunteer coordinator as her space, Gardner said. School offices have been relocated to the Mt. Blue Middle School in Farmington for efficiency purposes.

There is a table for residents to do research and a desk where kids can sit and color while adults take care of business.

A smaller office has the online voter registration equipment in it and a connecting office will be shared by the road commissioner and code enforcement officer and will be a good spot for general assistance interviews to be discussed in private, Gardner said.

Webster said SAD 9 did a great job cleaning up the place and also left some tables, desks and chairs behind to be used by the town.

Selectmen and the Planning Board will also share a classroom to hold meetings.

There is a conference table and room for members of the public to sit comfortably now, Gardner said.

“We’re thrilled to death. I think it will work very well for us,” he said.

Another classroom on the opposite side of the hallway will be used for voting this year. In the future, selectmen are hoping to lease out that space. Head Start leases space in the building as well.

“We’re very pleased with it,” Webster said of the new town office. “Hopefully, the voters will be very pleased, too.”

Though the new digs will cost a little more, selectmen are doing what they have control over to be efficient. That includes setting up the town office space so that is on the same heating zone as Head Start, Gardner said.

Comments are no longer available on this story