Thank You, Tom

Some effort, tenacity, and a little time is all that it took.  Thank you Shaun, Tom, and the other members of the Board of Selectman for your commitment.

From a silly oversight, to making it right in our lifetime is truly amazing.




Selectman Thomas Creamer  Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 12:09 AM

Greetings All,

I am pleased to announce that this past Monday, I received a communication from the Executive Director of the Architectural Access Board – Mr. Thomas Hopkins – that the A.A.B. has “...granted the Town of Sturbridge variance relief to 521CMR Section 25.1 for the main entrance to 308 Main Street, the Sturbridge Town Hall”. Simply stated, this means that the Town has formerly received permission to engage full and permanent access via the front doors of Town Hall.

The variance was conditional to an upgrade specific to the handrails leading to the front doors and in support of same, the Town Administrator has already requested and received plans from the Architect consistent with the A.A.B.’s condition. This is a relatively simple fix and the Town Administrator reports that we will “...get the work accomplished through the TH/COB (Town Hall/Center Office Building) project budget”; thus it will require no additional funding.

Though unfortunate that the variance request was not undertaken prior to construction - as part of the original project scope – it is now behind us and can serve as a “teaching moment” for all future projects. That said, I would like to extend my gratitude to current members of the Board of Selectmen who supported continued efforts to pursue this matter and have it corrected on “our watch”. Though predating nearly all of us on the current Board, it became our responsibility to rectify the issue once we became knowledgeable of its existence and there was uniform commitment by all to see this resolved successfully.

In addition, I extend my deepest gratitude to Mr. Tom Hopkins who took the time to reach out to our community, offer his guidance, and pledge his support in assisting us through this process. His efforts have been a power of example to all in terms of proactive and responsible governance. Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to Town Administrator Shaun Suhoski for drafting and assembling a variance request that was viewed quite favorably when received by the A.A.B..

-- Respectfully,

TRC

Thomas R. Creamer - Chairman, Sturbridge Board of Selectmen Town of Sturbridge 308 Main Street

Sturbridge, MA 01566 Mobile: 774-696-0903

Fax: 615-634-0903

When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property. - Thomas Jefferson