THREE RIVERS — After losing Montague's town hall in a 2018 fire, the newly amalgamated Town of Three Rivers is looking to construct a new $1 million building. But don't call it a town hall just yet.
“Our immediate priority is office space for our staff, which has been our priority since we started Three Rivers,” said Mayor Edward MacAulay.
The former Montague Town Hall was destroyed in the fire in summer of 2018 and, since then, staff have been primarily working out of a trailer outside of the Montague Fire Hall.
Town council meetings have been moving around the Three Rivers area, in places like the Lower Montague Community Hall, the King’s Playhouse in Georgetown and the Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre in Montague.
The moving around has been hard on staff, said MacAulay, especially because of the equipment they need to transport for council meetings.
“It is more difficult for staff to be mobile and move things from one place and then to the other,” he said.
“As a council we have to take a look at the bigger picture and figure out what works best for Three Rivers.”
When asked why not call the new building Three Rivers Town Hall, MacAulay said the amalgamation of town has only finished its first year and residents are still grappling with the implications.
“If we designated, say Montague, for a town hall for Three Rivers, we are going to open up a debate," said MacAulay. "So we aren’t in any position to take that on right now.
“Right now, we are more concerned with the administrative office need.”
He explained there will be architectural plans drawn up and there will be an exploration of what the possibilities might be for potential council chambers in the administrative building.
According to Three Rivers’ memorandum of understanding after amalgamation, there should be an administrative office in Montague as well as in Georgetown. Insurance money for the building destroyed by fire, though, can only go towards a new build on the old site on the Queens Road in Montague. So that is where the new administrative building will go.
MacAulay said it may take anywhere from a year to three years for the building to be completed.
Meanwhile, Three Rivers staff are getting by using the trailer.
“We are just plugging through, making the best of what we can,” he said.
“It is cramped in there for sure.”
