A Google map showing the location of the Seymour Community Center.
SEYMOUR – The third floor of the Seymour Community Center on Pine Street is slated for an overhaul after local legislative votes in November and December.
On Dec. 17 the Seymour Board of Selectpersons voted 6 – 0 with one abstention to award a $92,000 contract to Blizzard Mechanical LLC of Derby. The agenda described the work as “improvements” to the community center’s HVAC system.
Selectwoman Trish Danka abstained, saying she wanted more information about Blizzard, whose bid was much less than three other bids submitted. Ultimately the other officials voted to go with Blizzard, citing a positive reference check by town engineer Byan Nesteriak’s company.
The board had already voted on Nov. 6 to use $142,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to make improvements to the third floor of the community center. The HVAC system work is also coming from additional ARPA money.
Seymour plans to use the $142,000 to convert part of the vacant third floor into municipal office space to help alleviate growing pains at nearby town hall, according to Kurt Miller, Seymour’s chief administrative officer and town treasurer.
“This will be for much needed office space and help us clear out the bottom floor of town hall, which is bursting at the seams, and bring some town staff into one centralized location,” Miller told the board in November.
Miller said the town also wants to convert part of the third floor into additional programming space for the recreation department and senior center, as well as add public meeting space for various nonprofit town organizations, like Little League and Scout troops.
Miller is a former First Selectman. Under his administration, a committee was formed to explore building a new community center or renovating the existing building on Pine Street.
The committee stopped meeting in 2022 without making a recommendation.
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said her administration decided improvements to the existing building needed to be made.
“The building needed improvements, and the elevator needed to be fixed. and as nice as it would be to have a new building, we needed to ensure our residents have a working building,” Drugonis told The Valley Indy. “For now we will keep investing and improving our building.”
