X

Potsdam denied $20,000 to renovate room in Town Hall basement

Posted 7/12/18

By CRAIG FREILICH POTSDAM -- The Town Council has received word that its grant application for $20,000 to help transform a basement room in Town Hall has been denied. The council had hoped to make a …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Potsdam denied $20,000 to renovate room in Town Hall basement

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- The Town Council has received word that its grant application for $20,000 to help transform a basement room in Town Hall has been denied.

The council had hoped to make a second community room in Town Hall at 18 Elm St.

The council applied to the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency Local Development Corporation for the the grant.

The existing first-floor Community Room is being rented frequently, 270 times in 2017, according to wording in the resolution.

About 10 percent of the use is from businesses who need space for meetings, interviewing job candidates, and for other purposes, according to board members. Other anticipated uses would be for room for some work by lawyers, such as a private space for mediation cases, and client conferences, particularly for out-of-town attorneys who have clients here. Another possible use would be as shelter space in emergencies.

Town Clerk Cindy Goliber said she believes there is demand to justify preparing such a space, with its accessibility and parking.

Tisdel Associates, a consulting engineering firm in Canton, estimates the cost for the proposed work would be about $56,000, to replace a temporary wall in the basement space with a retractable one, build bathrooms, and put in flooring. That would not include additional items such as furniture, according to Town Councilor Rose Rivezzi, who sponsored the resolution approved at the town board’s April meeting.