Norwell's proposed $4.5 million building purchase for new town hall fails at town meeting

NORWELL − A proposal to buy a 19,900-square foot, two-story office building at 93 Longwater Circle to serve as a new town hall fell four votes short at a special town meeting.

Residents at Monday's meeting voted 106 to 58 in favor of buying the $4.5 million building, which was four "yes" votes short of the required two-thirds majority.

Peter Morin, who recently retired as town administrator, said several studies have been done on the current town hall at 345 Main St., which was built in 1950 and served as a school until 1982. The town started using the building as town hall in 1984, and Morin said few upgrades have been made since.

“The building is now 73 years old. It’s 10 years older than me, and I’m retired,” he said. “It wasn’t built for the function it’s fulfilling, and it doesn’t do it well.”

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Morin said officials started to explore the possibility of buying an office building after the expected cost of renovating the existing town hall came in well above the $5 million budget. Current estimates put the upgrades at $8 million to $12 million.

Morin said the building at 93 Longwater Circle has everything the town would need, including offices and meeting space, and would cost far less than building a new town hall.

But residents questioned the cost of making the building suitable to serve as the town hall, the future of the existing building and site, and whether officials fully explored all possible alternatives.

"I think we may need to build or buy a new building, but there are other balls in the air right now and they should be really thought out very thoroughly before we go ahead and make a decision," resident Dennis Hines said.

Morin said one option is to seek a debt-exclusion property tax override, which is a temporary tax increase, to pay to renovate the current town hall. The Longwater Circle purchase would not have required a property tax override.

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In other business, residents approved spending an additional $1.6 million for a new highway department building. In February 2020, town meeting voted to appropriate $5.5 million for the project, but costs have increased significantly and more money is needed, officials said.

Residents also voted to authorize the select board to file a home-rule petition with the Legislature seeking to remove the Norwell Police Department from the Civil Service system.

Reach Jessica Trufant at jtrufant@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Plan to buy building for new town hall fails in Norwell