THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 7, 1996 TAG: 9602060129
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
The Windsor Town Council will meet in its new council chambers for the first time next week.
After having moved its meetings for the last five months, the council will return to the municipal building at 8 E. Windsor Blvd. for its 7:30 p.m. meeting Feb. 13. This will be first time the council has met there since the town offices underwent a $115,000 renovation that included adding the council chamber.
The council's agenda has not yet been prepared.
Before the renovation the Town Council had gathered around a long, portable table in the building's community room, Town Treasurer Pat Mann said. That room and the town's administrative office were connected by a double-bay garage used by the Fire Department until two years ago.
But after Tuesday, council members will be conducting town business in that garage.
Construction crews knocked down one wall and erected several others to build a roomy, mauve-carpeted meeting room for the town's governing body. They also built two small offices: one for J.M. ``Jim'' De Grand, Windsor's first town administrator in several years, the other for the Virginia State Police.
De Grand said the last bit of work is being done on the council's meeting chambers this week: the installation of a horseshoe-shaped table with paneled, wood fronts where council members will sit during meetings.
``The weather has held things up a little bit,'' he said. ``But we are going to be completely in by the end of this week.''
De Grand and Mann began overseeing the return of the town's administrative offices to the municipal building Feb. 1. While the council's monthly meetings were moved to the Windsor Ruritan Club's Community Hall, Mann has been handling the town's daily operations from a rental trailer in the municipal building's parking lot since September.
The Windsor Town Council began talking about renovating the municipal building two years ago, shortly after the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department moved to its new location on U.S. Route 460.
``There is going to be a lot of growth occurring here,'' De Grand said. ``I think the council saw a need to expand its meeting facilities and saw the vacant fire truck bays as an opportunity to make it happen.''
That's not the only reason the renovations were needed, Mann added.
``We needed a place for the new town administrator's office.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Jim De Grand, town administrator, has an office in the renovated
town hall.
by CNB