BROOKFIELD — Town officials aim to complete town hall renovations within its budget and the next two months, according to Community Development Specialist, Greg Dembowski.
The project — that began in November — is a full-scale renovation to the Land Use offices that houses several municipal departments including: economic development, the health department, sanitarians, building officials, zoning enforcement and the fire marshal.
Brookfield is paying for the renovation through a $128,205 state grant, in addition to the town committing an additional $29,000 to cover the project costs, Dembowski said.
Officials put the money toward hiring an architect — from Seventy2 Architects in Danbury — to create a design plan. The design plan has not been finalized, but is being reviewed by the Board of Selectman, according to Dembowski.
After ironing out a few details, Dembowski plans to get input from land use employees and make sure everyone is “on board” with the coming changes, Dembowski said.
Principal architect on the project, Maura Newell Juan said the firm’s plan will make the office “more efficient” by creating a “better interface with the public.”
Everything will be brand new, with the exception of the remaining ceiling, carpet and a few walls, according to Newell. The renovation will provide a new meeting room, storage room, lobby for the public and modern furniture that ia all ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990] compliant, Newell said.
A previous space with room for maybe one or two people will not be able to safely accommodate more without taking up as much space, according to Newell.
First Selectman Steve Dunn said the new furniture pieces are “modular units that snap together like legos.” Each desk comes with attachable partitions that will ensure social distancing when needed, according to Dunn.
Dunn believes the renovation is long overdue since offices “haven’t been redesigned since the building was built,” and necessary because the space is overcrowded. Dembowski agrees.
“Over the course of the last several years, with the addition of new staff, the workspace has become overcrowded and in light of all the social distance requirements and standards, we were forced to put up temporary partitions between work stations to allow our employees to work safely in that environment. “ Dembowski said. “And that temporary situation, just by its nature is not permanent, and this is our solution to make it a more permanent workspace.”
Dunn hopes to make similar changes to other offices in the future. While $157,000 may seem costly, Dunn said it’s “actually not that expensive,” considering all the factors — air flow, ADA compliance, insulation, etc. — taken into consideration to revitalize the workspace.
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January 11, 2021 at 06:05PM
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Brookfield town hall renovation to be complete within two months - Danbury News Times
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