NILES - The residents of Niles got their new town hall the old fashioned way: they earned it.
“I wish all levels of government would do that,” said state Assemblyman Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua.
“It's good fiscal planning - put a little aside until you have enough.”
Kolb was speaking Saturday to a crowded room at the new facility.
“I wish I could get a turnout like this in every town,” he told the townspeople, who filled nearly every chair in the spacious room.
Perhaps attendance was in part a result of the open house held to show off the new municipal building to visitors. Construction on the building has been paid for.
“They put money away for 18 years, and finally we had enough,” said town supervisor Alson Dougherty.
“We are kind of proud of it. We haven't finished the basement. This last weekend we had the hot water put in.”
Savings for the project began in 1988 and by 2003, with pockets turned inside out, the town had $670, 811 to put down on the counter.
To date, $604,860 has been spent. While technically the doors were opened last year for the first town meeting, a contention among town board members concerning the addition of a basement delayed the official open house until now.
“I wanted to wait until the basement was finished,” explained former supervisor Dick Dewitt.
Dewitt rallied for the basement, as did the current supervisor. As a result of a request made by Dewitt, a $25,000 grant was obtained to be utilized for the addition.
Former state Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann secured a grant for the town to finish the basement.
“The idea was for a shelter,” Dewitt said. “It was my feeling so many senior citizens in town need a place in case of an emergency to go - some who need life support.”
Sitting at his desk, next to a window overlooking the fire barn across the lot, Dougherty reflected on the subject.
“We took a lot of heat for the basement,” he said. “I was pro-basement. It's our goal to use the downstairs as a meeting place.
“If you look over there,” he said, motioning out the window, “they have their meetings upstairs. There's no access. It's a firetrap. We're going to have them (firemen) have their meetings here. This is a municipal building.”
With the scent of fresh plaster in the air, Dougherty reinforced the aspect of safety.
“What a wonderful place,” he said, referring to the new building.
“We got lucky. We had one power outage this past winter. One winter we went five days without power. NiMo just forgot where we live. We have our own heating here, a generator. We could invite the whole ... community in and have a block party.”
Originally a resident of New York City, Dougherty marveled at the heritage, and residents of the community:
“Other people, if they want a new building, they go out and bond for it,” he said. “You think of them saving each year, close to $700,000 they saved for it.
“I worked for a school district - you have to give back to the taxpayers after you reach a certain amount (of savings),” he said. “People here just said, ‘We don't care.'”
“It's good fiscal planning - put a little aside until you have enough.”
Kolb was speaking Saturday to a crowded room at the new facility.
“I wish I could get a turnout like this in every town,” he told the townspeople, who filled nearly every chair in the spacious room.
Perhaps attendance was in part a result of the open house held to show off the new municipal building to visitors. Construction on the building has been paid for.
“They put money away for 18 years, and finally we had enough,” said town supervisor Alson Dougherty.
“We are kind of proud of it. We haven't finished the basement. This last weekend we had the hot water put in.”
Savings for the project began in 1988 and by 2003, with pockets turned inside out, the town had $670, 811 to put down on the counter.
To date, $604,860 has been spent. While technically the doors were opened last year for the first town meeting, a contention among town board members concerning the addition of a basement delayed the official open house until now.
“I wanted to wait until the basement was finished,” explained former supervisor Dick Dewitt.
Dewitt rallied for the basement, as did the current supervisor. As a result of a request made by Dewitt, a $25,000 grant was obtained to be utilized for the addition.
Former state Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann secured a grant for the town to finish the basement.
“The idea was for a shelter,” Dewitt said. “It was my feeling so many senior citizens in town need a place in case of an emergency to go - some who need life support.”
Sitting at his desk, next to a window overlooking the fire barn across the lot, Dougherty reflected on the subject.
“We took a lot of heat for the basement,” he said. “I was pro-basement. It's our goal to use the downstairs as a meeting place.
“If you look over there,” he said, motioning out the window, “they have their meetings upstairs. There's no access. It's a firetrap. We're going to have them (firemen) have their meetings here. This is a municipal building.”
With the scent of fresh plaster in the air, Dougherty reinforced the aspect of safety.
“What a wonderful place,” he said, referring to the new building.
“We got lucky. We had one power outage this past winter. One winter we went five days without power. NiMo just forgot where we live. We have our own heating here, a generator. We could invite the whole ... community in and have a block party.”
Originally a resident of New York City, Dougherty marveled at the heritage, and residents of the community:
“Other people, if they want a new building, they go out and bond for it,” he said. “You think of them saving each year, close to $700,000 they saved for it.
“I worked for a school district - you have to give back to the taxpayers after you reach a certain amount (of savings),” he said. “People here just said, ‘We don't care.'”
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