POTSDAM — A $3.2 million proposal for a town hall on Lawrence Avenue is dead, four weeks after voters resoundingly rejected the building project in a referendum.
"We're not going forward with that in the conceivable future," town Supervisor Marie C. Regan said. "They thought it was too expensive. We can't go back unless we explain things better or have something that costs less."
The Town Council now must decide what to do next, whether that's formulating a more frugal plan for the Lawrence Avenue site, renovating the current hall at 35 Market St. or sharing space with other municipalities.
In any case, the condition of the town hall on Market Street remains poor.
"We'd like to find a solution that's suitable to the public. We're just trying to figure out what that is," Mrs. Regan said. "Our feeling is if we went forward with any kind of plan right now, people would feel we're thumbing our nose at their wishes."
After a lengthy executive session at its meeting Tuesday night, the Town Council told engineer Aaron B. Jarvis that it plans to terminate its contract with Tisdel Associates, Canton, for designing the 13,167-square-foot building.
Mrs. Regan said the town likely will lose nearly $220,000 it had secured in grants for the new building, although it may be able to keep a $30,000 state justice court grant. Many of the grants require that construction be under way before granting an extension — and that would have to happen by October or November.
The supervisor also has said she doubts the town's $2.6 million and $623,530 loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development office can be used for another project — and if they could, the interest rate probably will go up.
Village Trustee Steven W. Yurgartis presented one option for alleviating the town's problems with its hall Tuesday night.
He submitted a letter signed by the village Board of Trustees asking the Town Council to hire a consultant to conduct a joint study on the merits of sharing court space and services.
"We both have courtrooms that need significant renovations. Why spend the money to renovate two courtrooms when they sit empty most of the time, when we can spend to renovate just one?" Mr. Yurgartis said. "I just think it's time to have fresh eyes on this. If you have the same people looking at the same problem, you get the same answer."
He suggested that the joint study be under way by June so results could be back in October, and the boards would have time to make a decision by the end of the year — and before budget season.
Town Council members said that timeline would have to be sped up, because the village will hold elections for its four-year justice position in November.
"Is the village itself willing to dissolve its court, if that's what the consultant or group wants us to do?" Councilman Michael J. Zagrobelny asked. "Why bother if everybody's not going into it with a clear mind? We don't want to waste our time if the village board is going to say it will never dissolve its court."
Councilwoman Judith R. Rich said she didn't see a need for an outside consultant, because she sees only two options: dissolve Potsdam Village Court, or combine its services with the town. Either way, the two municipalities would have to find funding and a location — and would have to work together.
"That, given the history of our boards, would be the most difficult of our problems," she said.
Mrs. Regan pointed out that the court is a "cash cow" for the village. She agreed to look at options for consultants with Mr. Zagrobelny in advance of a joint meeting between the town and the villages of Potsdam and Norwood.
The town hopes to schedule that meeting for May 27. Plans for its hall stand to be the main topic of discussion among the municipalities.
The council on Tuesday night also approved paying $18,695 for boring and drilling site work and engineering costs for the failed town hall project, as well as $1,248 for advertisements it bought in advance of the referendum.
