By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — It won’t be the first pricey facelift this town has seen, or the last.

The stately, century-old building on Myrtle Avenue that for the last four decades has been Town Hall will soon get a quarter million dollars’ worth of façade work.

The six fluted Corinthian columns will be stripped, refinished and repainted, according to Deputy Public Works Director John Broadbin. Two pilasters (rectangular pillars affixed to the front of the structure) also will be stripped and repainted.

The bases of the two-story pillars, he said, have rot and will be replaced with new wood. 

Broadbin said Wednesday afternoon the building began its life somewhere around 1915 as Bedford Elementary School. In 1978, work began to convert it to a new town hall. The Myrtle Avenue building replaced the old cobblestone Town Hall at 90 Post Road East.

Work also will be done on the capitals, the ornate toppings to the columns, Broadbin said, and the pediment, the triangular feature atop the columns.

“Since this was 1915, and it’s been sitting in the weather ever since, we’re experiencing some wood rot on the lower end,” Broadbin said. 

“The worst degradation is at the six column bases,” he said, “so we’ll end up temporarily supporting the pediment by scaffolding, and replacing the six column bases. We’re not replacing the columns, just the bases.”

He said the columns will be stripped of all the coatings from over the years. The wood will be reconditioned and problem areas patched or filled before being primed and painted with weatherproof products.

The Board of Finance on Wednesday night approved a $251,000 appropriation for the work.

Broadbin told board members that the area to be restored “is probably the most historically significant element of the building, at least in my opinion.”

He said the building is on the state’s Historic Register as a contributing property to the Myrtle Avenue Historic District.

“So, what happens to this building matters,” he said.

Broadbin said his department is seeking a state historic preservation grant, but is working on language in the application that would not prevent other improvements at Town Hall. It would pay half the project’s cost if granted.

The board approved the appropriation unanimously.

Money OK’d for DPW equipment

The Board of Finance also unanimously approved three other public works requests Wednesday:

• $160,000 to purchase a John Deere 410L backhoe and loader. It will replace a 17-year-old John Deere backhoe that is becoming costly to maintain. 

• $270,000 to replace a 50,000-pound truck lift for the department’s maintenance garage.

• $285,000 to replace the weigh scale at the Transfer Station.

All the appropriations will go before the Representative Town Meeting, which has final say on spending.

Juneteenth holiday pay approved

Among other agenda items, the board also approved a request to appropriate $84,000 to cover town employee pay for the new state holiday Juneteenth. The June 19 observance commemorates the emancipation of slaves after the end of the Civil War.

Town Finance Director Gary Conrad said the bulk of that, about $62,000, would be allocated for holiday pay for police and fire personnel. Much of the rest is for Transfer Station, EMS and Parks and Recreation Department employees, who will be paid time and a half.

Asked if the board could expect that amount next year, Conrad said yes, plus a few thousand more. 

Thane Grauel is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Westport Journal. Learn more about us here.