By CRAIG FREILICH

WINTHROP -- The Town of Stockholm has been developing a plan to replace the old Quonset hut that has served as the town hall since the late 1960s.

An open meeting Feb. 2 to discuss ideas for a new town hall on a new lot will be held at 6 p.m. at the current town hall. It will be led by Town Supervisor Clark Decker.

“About two years ago we realized that the offices we have just weren’t going to make it,” said Robin McClellan, Stockholm resident and volunteer on the town hall project.

“It needs a roof and that would cost a lot of money. There’s not enough parking, and the court is not in compliance” with state standards, he said, noting that the administrative offices, the court, and the town board all use the building.

“It’s a Quonset hut,” he said, referring to the semi-circle of corrugated steel in wide use during World War II as a versatile and inexpensive form of shelter. The one used as the town’s offices was first put up in 1948 as a temporary school building.

“It was not meant to be permanent,” McClellan said, and estimates to replace the roof and bring the rest up to standards was more than $500,000.

Even that would not have provided adequate space for everything the building is called on to do, and would not create any more parking space. Not to mention the snakes – “an occasional snake problem,” McClellan said.

Yes, from time to time snakes of one probably harmless variety or another find their way inside, which does not make for the best working conditions.

The project group has been looking at sites for the new building. They looked at the old Key Bank building in Winthrop, Green’s Mill in Sanfordville, and the old town garage, among others, none of which, it was felt, could be renovated and remodeled cheaply enough to be worth it, “none that we felt was going to do the trick,” McClellan said. “The board made the decision to pursue looking at new construction.”

They drew up a list of about 15 sites in the area they thought were worth considering, but most weren’t available.

The site they did find and eventually purchased, on U.S. Rt. 11 near Winthrop, was larger than they needed, but on the plus side, close enough to go on the public sewer system, and near natural gas lines.

Among the features they hope to incorporate is photoelectric solar cells that they expect will cut electric costs down to near zero. “It’s worth looking at,” he said.

Another cost-saver could be the use of volunteers and town workers to help build and finish the building, the way they built the new town garage in 2009-2010, saving roughly half the cost of hiring people to do it all.

“We want to build for the long term. It will be nice to have something we can be proud of, that will promote civic pride – nothing extravagant.”

While they have hired a designer, architects and engineers Beardsley Designs, which has offices in Syracuse, Auburn and Malone. They are beginning with their work on the site, but no hint of a groundbreaking date, let alone a completion date, has been mentioned.

The Tuesday meeting is about getting residents’ ideas and answering questions about the plans so far. “We’re interested in everyone’s ideas now so we can build the best building we can get,” McClellan said.

About the 6 p.m. meeting start time, McClellan said, “We try to start early so the farmers can get some sleep before morning chores, but Carol Simpson (another project volunteer) and I will be there until the last question is answered.”