Town offices closed for week, relocate to Oakmont H S
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The personnel at the Town Hall have been packing up the paperwork, the artwork and the other supplies for their relocation to Oakmont Regional High School.

For all those that must conduct business with the town of Ashburnham the town hall will be closed until the move to Oakmont Regional High School is complete.

The Town Hall closed on Thursday afternoon so that the staff could relocate their offices to the rental space of the high school. And the town offices will reopen at 15 Oakmont Drive on Tuesday, May 22, at 8 a.m.

"It's like in Apollo 13, 'Failure is not an option,'" said Interim Town Administrator Paul Boushell.

Town is renting two classrooms in the back of the high school for the next 12 to 18 months, while the Fairbanks Memorial Town Hall is renovated.

The rent will be $1,500 a month, which includes utilities.

The school committee unanimously approved the lease and the safety plan at their May 8 meeting.

Signs will mark the directions to the town hall offices at the school and the parking for visitors. Visitors will not be allowed to access the offices through the front door of the school for security reasons.

Boushell said the Town Hall closed before the move, so that the public can be served better when the offices are reopened.

"There is so much that either needs to be moved in to the school, into temporary storage or into permanent storage," Boushell said. "When the (general contractor) takes over (the building) needs to be cleared out."

Employees will have access to the items they expect to need on a daily basis inside the schools, but materials expected to be needed only occasionally will be placed in storage pods at the school, while long-term storage items will be placed in a trailer off site.

"Everything is color coded," Boushell said.

All of the Town Hall employees have been CORI checked by the school and the police department, and they all have photo badges to wear while they are in the building.

The town and the school are reminding visitors that there is no smoking or pets on school grounds and the school property is a drug free area.

Meeting of the various boards will take place in the VMS Building, John R. Briggs Elementary School and the library. The goal is to set up a schedule of where each board will meet but that has not been determined yet.