After years of searching for a new home, the Jaffrey town offices have moved to their new location in the former TD Bank.
It has been a long time coming, said Select Board Chair Franklin Sterling during a grand opening for the new building Friday afternoon.
“Two hundred-and-fifty years ago, the Town of Jaffrey came together and built the Meetinghouse,” Sterling said. “1775 — it’s only taken us 250 years to get here.”
Sterling said that before the town offices were in their most-recent location, they were in what is now the town’s Police Department, built in the 1950s. The offices moved to Goodnow Street in the mid-1990s, and it was always anticipated that would be a temporary home. However, attempts to find a new location for the town offices had always been to no avail until last fall, when the TD Bank at 28 Main St. — right next to the police station and just in front of the Goodnow Street offices — came up for sale.
In November, the town held a special Town Meeting to request the use of $1.2 million in existing funds in the town’s unexpended fund balance to purchase the building — a vote that passed with a resounding 194-1 count.
“I think you’re going to find, once you get in and look around, you’re going to be amazed at how great the layout worked out for us, and how little we really had to do to make this into a town office,” Sterling said.
The main entrance to the building will be from the front, entering into a waiting room.
“Unique for us — we didn’t have one before,” said Town Manager Jon Frederick.
Frederick said the waiting room will have access to functions of the town offices used most by the public. The town has renovated the room, once used as the teller window, by extending the wall from the counter to the ceiling, creating secure spaces for the town clerk and tax collector. On the other side of the room, walls have been added to create office space for code enforcement officer, and offices for the Recreation Department staff.
“The busiest people, we wanted right here, when you first open the door,” Frederick explained.
This also marks a move for the Recreation Department to be included in the town offices. Previously, the Recreation Department was housed in an upfitted barn on Howard Hill Road.
“We’ve wanted to have them co-located with us for a long time,” Frederick said. “The bank has afforded that opportunity to us.”
Down the hall, but still on the first floor, with be executive and finance offices, housing the town manager, treasurer, trustees of the trust funds, finance director and finance assistant. Across the hall will be the planning and economic development offices, and space for TEAM Jaffrey. TEAM Jaffrey was previously located in the downstairs office space of the bank.
The space that was once for TEAM Jaffrey has been gutted to open up a large meeting room, which Frederick said will be used for regular board meetings, and will likely have enough space that some public meetings that were previously held in the town’s fire station — such as the annual budget hearing — can be moved back to the town office.
Frederick said the town also took advantage of the move to upgrade the town office’s broadcasting setup, with eight microphones installed in the ceiling — four facing the board table and four facing the audience — and three camera angles. Presenters can plug in and present on a large screen, which can also be displayed on the town’s livestream.
“We’re really excited about this,” Frederick said, of the new setup. “What’s were working with [in the old town office] was getting the job done, but not in the manner we would like. We’re very happy with this.”
Frederick said the town intends to eventually remove the drive-through kiosk and lane, which will open up another 20 potential parking spaces. He noted that these spaces will compensate for the street parking expected to be lost due to the roundabout construction scheduled for downtown in the next few years.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.