Village Hall to Get Elevator; Building Department to Move Back In

Southampton Village Hall may finally be getting an elevator, which would bring the building closer to Americans with Disabilities Act standards and enable the village Building Department to move back in.

The Building Department and fire marshals have been in rented space at the 71 Hill Street complex since moving out of Village Hall in 2006, and the village has been paying more than $50,000 per year in rent, Mayor Mark Epley said Wednesday.

The Building Department, which was located on the first floor where the treasurer's office is now, had outgrown its office space, and was probably in Village Hall 15 years longer than it should have been, he said.

The village will issue a bond to borrow money to pay for the elevator, and the savings on rent will help cover the debt payments, he said. The bond will also include the costs of restoring the village's World War I monument at Agawam Park, which will be repaid with donations the village collects.

The exact cost of the elevator installation remains to be seen, as Epley said the village will have to draft specifications and go through a public bidding process.

The mayor said the second-floor renovation can be completed in-house, and wintertime is a great opportunity for village staffers to work on it. “The good thing is we have the talent with our crews to be able to do that work."

The renovation of the second floor will come soon, and plans for the third floor will be considered later, Epley said. He noted that Village Hall has had a history of housing different kinds of offices, from the phone company to the post office, and it remains to be seen who the new tenant of the third floor will be.

The Police Department occupied the second floor until 2002, when it moved into a brand new facility on Windmill Lane. The Village Board has floated the idea in the past of selling Village Hall and using the proceeds to build a new facility next to the police station, but many residents spoke out against the plan, wanting to keep Village Hall at the heart of Main Street.

In the past, the village commissioned renderings of an extension off the back of the building to accommodate an elevator, but Epley said that plan has been dropped because it is too costly.

Village Administrator Stephen Funsch said the most likely location for the elevator will be near the front entrance, which has a handicap ramp.