The last Annual Town Meeting authorized the Selectmen to go forward and try and find a buyer for the old Town Hall structure on Green Street. Going with that mandate, they went out and advertised for a solicitation of bids. They did so and it was decided to award the building to a localite named Andrew Higgins from Pearl Street. It should be noted that the Higgins bid was for $70,000. Other points of consideration is the fact that the zoning on Green Street requires single family houses, and that Higgins would have to maintain the integrity and appearance of the historic structure. There is little doubt that extensive work would have to be done with the structure, including electrical, plumbing, duct work, paint, and structural attention both inside and out. Another major issue would be to achieve Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance. Whoever got the bid was in for a major commitment.

Certainly no great effort was ever made to publicly announce or publish the fact that there was another bidder in the process. Another local fellow named Richard Carlson also put in a bid that was $20,000 higher at $90,000. To be completely accurate, the bid was for $90,001. At some point in the process, letters went out and the two were asked what they intended to do with the building. According to Town Administrator Kevin Donovan, Higgins indicated that he sought office space on the main floor with a gallery or art studio in the basement. Carlson’s thoughts were for residential purposes. One source told the Observer that the letter sent to Carlson never reached him because of some address problem. At any rate, notwithstanding the $20,000 difference, Higgins was awarded the right to purchase the historic building at its current single family zoning. Here is where the whole thing starts to go bad. The Selectmen decide, by some slight of hand, that this would be a better deal to change the Town Hall zoning. To add credibility to the deal, they put together a warrant article suggesting that this building, along with any other town owned abandoned structures should have expanded zoning uses. These decisions were never made in public, but in executive session in the name of, "negotiations." Are you getting queasy yet? We don’t know who Andrew Higgins is, but we got a small group of people going to extraordinary lengths to help the guy out. There was never any cause to go into secret session over this, it was entirely inappropriate. The other question is why the guy who offered $20,000 more didn’t get the award? He put up the same $1,000 certified check in order to bid.

Now for the series of fortunate events that occurred at the Monday night Special Town Meeting. Article 1, the big reason everybody attended never had a presentation, never asked a question and otherwise created the final spike through the heart of a town that will never be the same. The business was dispatched in about 20 minutes. Because the 250 or so people who came to vote yes on our demise didn’t have the nerve to do a mass exodus… they stayed, looking for a better time to retreat. Then came this article, it intrigued the attendees who now received a sense of participation and public spirit. More time was spent on this matter then the 40-R related Article 1. Planning Board Chairman Tom Bouchard was offended by the issue, this writer agreed, Environmentalist Ralph Calderaro agreed, and trio reveled in their agreement. Others joined in, the deal was exposed and the rest of the chamber reveled in the process, never realizing what a hoot it would have been to have done the same thing with Article 1. But alas, something good was accomplished. The fact is, if Mr. Higgins wanted to try and change the zoning, go to Town Meeting and have at it. The Selectmen shouldn’t be sweetening the deal for him.