At 9:20 pm the town of Upton voted to go forward with the Town Hall renovation project with a 2/3 majority; 171 in favor and 53 against.
The project was presented with a favorable recommendation from the Community Preservation Committee and the Finance Committee but the Capitol Budget Committee was not recommending the project move forward. The article required a long commentary period from the residents in Upton. Those against thought the project was over priced at approximately 6.5 million dollars and believed Upton would be better served building a new Town Hall. Those in favor argued 94% of the renovation will be paid for with Community Preservation Act Funds with the towns portion $370,000 or 6% and if Upton were to build a new Town Hall Community Preservation Funds could not be used and Upton would need to raise taxes.
Those for also felt the Town Hall was the center and heart of Upton and is part of the historic flavor of the town. Jim Bates Jr. said “Town Hall is the heart of the community, we don’t want to go through a heart transplant, let’s renovate and make it work.”
Now that the project has been approved by the people of Upton construction will begin this June with an estimated completion date of August 2014. The original building was dedicated on September 23, 1884 and the Town hopes to dedicate the renovated building on September 23, 2014.
During construction all offices housed at the Town Hall will be moved to across the street to the building formerly known as Holy Angels Church.
Here are links to other posts related to this project.
https://uptondaily.com/2013/04/29/upton-town-hall-surplus-items-for-sale/
UPTON DAILY 