By: Graham Strouse
WEST AMWELL — After months of wrangling, the Township Committee May 17 authorized the appropriation of $7,800 to repair and renovate the vestibule of the old municipal building on Mt. Airy Road for use as an office by Emergency Services Director Harry Heller and a foyer by the West Amwell Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary.
The plan for reconstruction of the front section of the building, which will now serve as a headquarters for Emergency Services, West Amwell Police, the fire company and the Ladies Auxiliary, appeared to be a done deal as recently as a month ago.
The May 3 committee meeting changed all that. After a long and vitriolic debate that eventually degenerated into an exchange of name-calling, the committee voted to ask Mr. Heller whether he’d be content with part-time use of West Amwell Attorney Phil Faherty’s office in the new building on Lambertville-Rocktown Road. Committee member Nance Palladino contacted Mr. Heller, who toured Mr. Faherty’s office. Mr. Heller was somewhat less than pleased.
“We originally asked for 200 square feet,” Mr. Heller said. “We went down to 175 square feet. We went down to 126 square feet.”
Tape measure in hand, Mr. Heller mapped out Mr. Faherty’s office. It measured 110 square feet.
“By comparison, the men’s room is 102 square feet,” he said. “If you bring me here, I’m going to need antenna access. I’m going to need phones — not just a bank phone. I’m going to need equipment access.”
The physical separation from the police and fire company also left Mr. Heller uneasy.
In the event of an emergency, “If I can be closer to the other departments, it would be better,” he said. “If I had my druthers, I’d rather be there (the old building).”
Mr. Heller got his druthers.
“Let’s just be done with this,” said Deputy Mayor Gary Bleacher. “A lot of those repairs, even those I first questioned, fixing the window, need to be done anyway. A lot of people did a lot of work, did a lot of compromise.”
Fortunately, they had a plan in hand — a division of the vestibule based on plans drawn up by Ladies Auxiliary Associate Werner Hoff and modified by Mr. Heller. They’d already gone out to bid. They already had a price tag.
“Let’s just do something,” Mr. Bleacher said.
