Lincolnville’s renovated town office ready for business
Poring over the last-minute details at the renovated and expanded Lincolnville Town Office: Amanda Austin, architect, and Mike Paris, contractor, on the left side of the counter. On the right, Architect Steve Marin and Town Administrator David Kinney. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)
The new assembly room.
The hall where the old building meets the new addition.
Walter Simmons carved and painted a beautiful new town seal that will hang at the town office in the assembly room. Steve Marin, David Kinney, Mike Paris and Amanda Austin.
The new kitchen.
The new lobby.
The outside looks just like the drawing. The sculpture, “Elan,” was crafted by Priscilla Pattison, who donated it the town before she passed away.
Poring over the last-minute details at the renovated and expanded Lincolnville Town Office: Amanda Austin, architect, and Mike Paris, contractor, on the left side of the counter. On the right, Architect Steve Marin and Town Administrator David Kinney. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)
The new assembly room.
The hall where the old building meets the new addition.
Walter Simmons carved and painted a beautiful new town seal that will hang at the town office in the assembly room. Steve Marin, David Kinney, Mike Paris and Amanda Austin.
The new kitchen.
The new lobby.
The outside looks just like the drawing. The sculpture, “Elan,” was crafted by Priscilla Pattison, who donated it the town before she passed away.
LINCOLNVILLE — Aside from a few little odds and ends, the newly renovated Lincolnville Town Office on Hope Road is about ready for town employees to move back and resume operations there. The town is holding an open house Saturday, Nov. 9, 10 a.m. till noon, and invites the public to see what changes took place.
The doors to the town office will officially open Nov. 19. In preparation for moving back into the building, Lincolnville will close its town office Nov. 15 and 18.
The town office has been temporarily quartered at the Lincolnville Fire Station since early last spring as contractors with the Penobscot Company and 20 subcontractors got to work on the $550,500 project — “There were economic ripples across several counties,” said Town Administrator David Kinney, standing at the new counters that will soon be buzzing with municipal business. “We are on budget and ahead of schedule.”
The expansion included adding 3,744 square feet of new space for public and office functions. The new space includes an assembly area for public meetings, conference room, map room, counter space, break room, and toilet rooms. Exterior work entailed reconfiguring the parking lot, installing a new septic system, and replacing existing siding and roofing.
Last week, Kinney, along with architect Amanda Austin, of the Rockport-based 2A Architects, and Steve Marin and Mike Paris, of the Penobscot Company, were at the town office, finishing paperwork and tending to last-minute details.
“I'm very pleased,” said Kinney. “Everyone took pride in their work, getting things up and running. They are all taking care of Lincolnville.”
Lincolnville wrestled with the future of its town office for more than a decade. It was constructed in the 1980s just west of Lincolnville Central School on Route 235 in Lincolnville Center. While it was spacious two decades ago, the meeting room was subsequently appropriated for police and town manager offices, and storage room. The building got too small and was unable to meet building and compliance codes, according to a 2009 Municipal Buildings Committee report, which recommended expansion.
But with a recession and skeptical town sentiment, the selectmen opposed placing more fiscal strain on taxpayers and chose not to place a $522,188 project before voters.
In March 2010, the selectmen asked the Municipal Buildings Committee, which had been busy requisitioning contractors for a new fire station, to turn attention back to the town office project. The selectmen figured that lower interest rates and recession-priced construction costs signaled the right time to jump-start the process. In 2012, the committee concluded that 10 years of discussion was long enough and recommended that town pursue making its town office compliant with federal regulations, as well as serve community needs for the next 20 to 25 years.
In November 2012, voters approved appropriating $470,000 from the Capital Investment Reserve Account and authorized issuing up to $220,000 in bonds or notes for the renovation.
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