The Village Board, after considering a large Village Hall construction project on Center Street that had little public support, announced during Monday's Village Board meeting that it will purchase the Provident Bank five-floor office building and use it as the new Village Hall. The issue of what the Village was going to do has been unclear for quite some time as the Board explored all of its alternatives.

Public opinion was, for the most part, against the idea of placing a municipal building in the center of the village's downtown business district. Concern for public opinion, as well as a re-evaluation of building versus buying and the prospect of moving into a new facility in several months rather than a few years brought the Provident building back into the forefront of possible alternatives.

One reason that is often cited for the move is that the Village government claims that it has outgrown the Main Street building it now occupies along with the Ellenville Police Department. While some in the Village have been skeptical of this claim, what is not up for debate is the building's ADA status. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) sets guidelines for accessibility that the Village Hall, as presently constructed with its second-floor courtroom with no elevator, does not meet. This was made clear earlier this year as the late Morty Morosky, a former Village Trustee, sued the Village and won, forcing the municipality to move the Village's court proceedings to the Town Hall building on Canal Street.

The Provident Bank building (or old Ellenville National Bank building as many residents still call it) was an early prospect several years ago as the Village government started to feel its space crunch. There was a suggestion that the Town of Wawarsing join the Village in the five-floor building to defray retrofitting costs and have one, not two, municipal buildings. The Town Board would be willing to consider the move but, as of press time, they had not been satisfied as to the various cost benefits of moving into the new structure.

Whether the Town chooses to join with the Village or not, the Mayor has made it clear that the Village will be moving forward with the purchase and is hoping to have a closing within a matter of weeks.

The Provident Bank building initially was placed on the market for $1.75 million. The price that the Village looks to pay hovers around $1 million with Village Manager Elliott Auerbach estimating an additional $500,000 in retrofitting costs for the 23,000 square foot building. The Village would look to offset both the building and retrofitting costs by selling the current Village Hall as well as the proposed site of the Center Street Village Hall project.

The Village would not need to occupy all five floors and had left open the possibility that the Town of Wawarsing could come in on the deal. If the Town chooses to remain where it is, the upper floors would be rented out as office or retail space.

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