Bigger Offices
Aren’t Needed

In review of the circumstances that are before the selectboard and townspeople of Randolph regarding its town office, we are perhaps in a better place than we could have anticipated.

The first and foremost issue here is the division that has occurred among the taxpayers and selectboard of the Town of Randolph. It is perhaps indeed a Blessing in disguise if we can move forward and look at our options carefully.

The current location on Summer Street seems to have included in its original plan a substantial increase in size for renovations to include a larger room. It was also discussed that we can utilize the Chandler for voting of town issues. Gifford Hospital, Randolph High School and VTC all have rooms for meetings to take place and we can continue to do so at minimal expense, not the thousands that would occur if we moved either to the Pleasant Street or Main Street offers.

First, the former co-op is a much larger space than the current town offices need, plus it burdens the taxpayers with monthly condominium fees, currently estimated to be $30,000 per year. Those fees can increase and if the roof or other major repairs need to be done, it would be new taxpayer expenses.

As for the DuBois & King space, it was also established by the Building Committee that it is more space than the town offices need. The current expenses for maintenance at D & K are $104,000 annually, half of which would be paid by the taxpayers of Randolph. The current location at Summer Street costs the taxpayers $25,000. I say, why are we looking to increase in size when it is not needed and the taxpayers of Randolph are already overburdened by high taxes?

As a small local town we are all aware that The Herald and other state and national media have told us that we are in a recession. Numerous businesses are closing, have already closed or there are layoffs happening on a weekly basis. Businesses and the private sector are struggling with rising costs of home heating oil, gasoline and other necessary staples. We are all trying to deal with rising costs and looking for ways to make ends meet.

This is our blessing: We can utilize our current space with renovations to include improvements necessary to make our town offices updated and staff more comfortable in doing their daily work. We could use this opportunity to improve an existing building by making it "green" to save on future costs of rising oil and gas, such as having a solar panel for hot water and better insulation to maintain a good level of comfort inside.

We have many local contractors who are well versed in providing good quality work and could make this project work to unite our town and its people. We have spent enough time and money in grappling at other options, let’s move ahead.

Hildegard Jones

Randolph