OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford The Pomfret Town Board intends to sell the current Town Hall. From left are board members Ann Eckman, Adam Rak, Christopher Schaeffer and Dan Pacos. Board member Mike Lee is not in the photo.

The town of Pomfret plans to sell its current Town Hall, but it will be about a year before the new hall opens on Chestnut Road.

The OBSERVER asked Pomfret officials what was going to happen with the hall on Day Street in downtown Fredonia, during a town board meeting held in the building. “We’re going to sell it,” Town Supervisor Dan Pacos replied.

Pacos said “a few folks” have approached the town about buying the building. “We will have the building appraised, and then we go to market,” said Deputy Town Supervisor Ann Eckman.

Pacos said town officials estimate it will take about a year for Town Hall to move to Chestnut Road. The board approved the purchase of a former church on the road March 6 during a special meeting.

“It all depends on how long it takes us to close” on the purchase of the property, along with contractors’ renovation schedules, Pacos said.

Eckman stated that the building, a former worship site for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons), doesn’t need any exterior work. It only needs interior work, she said.

The purchase of the property is supposed to cost $370,000, according to the resolution passed March 6 by the town board. Remodeling and renovating the building into a town hall is slated to cost up to $600,000.

Pomfret set aside $330,000 for the move and will all use $440,000 from a federal grant, the resolution stated. “Availability of satisfactory financing” is supposed to cover the balance of the project costs.