VERNON - The State Bond Commission will consider releasing $1.2 million in state funding that would clear the way for the long-awaited renovation of the third floor of Town Hall.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced today that the commission is expected to release the funding when it meets Friday.

Funding to renovate the third floor of the Town Hall building on Park Place was included in the $2.9 billion bond package approved last summer by the General Assembly.

But while Rell signed the bonding package into law, it was not a guarantee that all projects on the list actually would receive funding.

For bond money to be released, the funding must be released by the Bond Commission, which the governor chairs.

After the bond package was approved, Robert L. Genuario, Rell's budget director, said the approved funding would receive "a tremendous amount of scrutiny" before any projects were sent to the commission.

But today, Rell and state Rep. Claire Janowski, D-Vernon, announced that the renovation of the historic Town Hall building has been deemed worthy of state funding.

"Renovations to landmark buildings like this one represent an important investment in, and commitment to, communities like the Rockville section of Vernon, and I am pleased that we can now make this funding available," Rell said in a news release. "This remarkable and celebrated building has been a focal point for the community for more than a century and a source of pride to Vernon citizens."

Once approved, the funding would pay for the restoration of the building's now vacant third floor, which includes 40-foot-high tin ceilings and large windows.

In addition to including offices for the mayor, town administrator, and finance officer, the third floor also is expected to include a central art gallery and an expanded Town Council chamber.

Once the third floor is complete, officials are expected to turn their attention to renovating the first and second floors of Town Hall, which also is known as the Memorial Building.

Janowski said Monday that she was "ecstatic" about the governor's decision.

Speaking to the reasons for approving the funds, Janowski said that Town Hall presented the state with the opportunity to renovate a historic building while helping revitalize a downtown area.

"I think it was a combination of all those factors that made it compelling to get it on to the bond commission," Janowski said. "To me, this is a homerun."

Mayor Ellen L. Marmer said Monday she was thrilled by the news of the Bond Commission meeting and thanked Rell, Janowski, and Rell's chief of staff, M. Lisa Moody, for working to get the money approved.

Moody also is chairwoman of the Vernon Capital Improvement Committee.

With "bid ready" documents already in hand, Marmer said, the town should be able to immediately begin the process of renovating the third floor once the money is received.
"We needed to do this, we needed to find a way to do this," Marmer said. "It's all designed. The specs are there, and we can manage the project as soon as the 'I's' are dotted and the 'T's' are crossed."

Rell is not unfamiliar with the building, having visited Vernon in October 1999 to announce several hundred thousand dollars in state funding for a plan to restore windows in Town Hall, which was constructed in 1889.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Plans to renovate Town Hall have gone through many stops and starts during the past several years as officials searched for ways to cover the increasing costs of restoring the 19th-century building.

In addition to restoring the windows, the town was forced to allocate nearly $5,000 to clean up pigeon droppings, which the state Department of Environmental Protection considered to be a hazardous material.

And more recently, the Town Council agreed to spend more than $220,000 to restore the mortar holding the building's bricks together and replace deteriorating slate on the Town Hall's roof.