ORANGE — The municipal offices that have been temporarily housed at 62 Cheney St. are putting the finishing touches on their move to Town Hall about 2½ months after the Selectboard voted to terminate the lease with that building’s owner.
The town’s Building Department, Board of Health, Community Development Department, Planning Board and Council on Aging are settling into Town Hall at 6 Prospect St., in the space formerly occupied by the assessors and tax collector, who now work in a different area of the building.
“The move from Cheney Street to Town Hall has been underway all summer. It’s closing in on its end. We’re about all moved up here now,” Town Administrator Matthew Fortier said at an Orange Selectboard meeting last week.
The Selectboard voted unanimously in August to terminate the lease, citing insufficient funds and property owner Mission Covenant Church’s plans to sell the building. The Selectboard provided written notice and must vacate the premises by Oct. 31.
The municipal offices had been housed at the Orange Armory at 135 East Main St. until the Selectboard voted in October 2021 to close that building because it has fallen into disrepair. The town worked out a lease to operate out of the rectory of the former Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church, which gave its facilities to Mission Covenant Church for social and faith-based activities. Town elections are also held at 62 Cheney St.
Tracy Gaudet, director of the Council on Aging, provided the Selectboard with an update at the recent meeting and said the transition has been a process over the past couple weeks.
“I’ll be honest with you, it’s incredibly cramped and hard to concentrate with your secretary in your office and people coming in,” she said. “So we’re adjusting well, but I think we could do a little bit better.”
She mentioned she has been communicating with the First Universalist Church of Orange to hold some programming there in the future.
“We’ve been working really well together. We’re on the same page,” Gaudet said. “I think we’re going to play very well together.”
She mentioned the next COA meeting is set for Nov. 10.