When Orangetown's supervisor, Teresa Kenny (R, 2019 to present), began working in the town attorney's office 28 years ago, she literally started at the bottom of the ladder. The office was tucked away in the basement of the town hall, built many years earlier in 1959. From that vantage point, Kenny had first-hand experience with the notorious leaks that had plagued the structure for many years. Eventually they got so bad that rusted floor beams and exterior stairways had to be propped up with temporary supports.The building department, separately housed in an old school library on Greenbush Road was bursting at the seams.

Other important issues cried out for attention. The building's climate efficiency was close to zero. In one office Kenny used, an air conditioner had to be left in place year around because the original windowpane was broken and lost. Security was also problematic; a stranger looking for the restroom once wandered into her supervisor's office unannounced.

The new town hall has been long in coming, Kenny said with a smile in early November 2024 during an interview in her spacious, second floor office. She explained that it can be extremely difficult to spearhead civic expenditures in a tax-shy community and she gives full credit to former supervisor Andy Stewart (D, 2012-2017), who got the ball rolling seven years ago in 2017 by hiring the widely respected architectural and engineering firm Noel S. Musial Group to work through the town's options.

Total demolition and a move to a larger property at Rockland Psychiatric was nixed because of cost, limited road access and environmental concerns. Instead, the town board voted to demolish the problematic 1959 part of the structure and replace it with a larger, two-story (plus basement) building. This new section connects by an open atrium to the police station, built in 1992, which is in good shape and does not need to be replaced.

Had the town's plan moved ahead in 2017, the new building was expected to be completed by January 2021. Instead, life got in the way. Stewart did not run for a second term and he was replaced by Chris Day (R. 2018-2019). Day kept the project moving. At some point, another architectural firm, Lothrop Associates, of White Plains, took over. Day left office after one year, and Teresa Kenny was elected to replace him in 2019.

Then Covid hit, slowing things down even further, and worst of all, causing dramatic inflation in construction costs. To pay for the project, a bond was approved for $22.5 million, of which $21.5 million went to the construction and $1 million for the demolition of the old building. Before it was torn down, the historical murals in the lobby were photographed, but unfortunately, they could not easily be saved.The distinctive horned sculpture by the front entrance, created by long time planning board member Bob Dell, still sits near the 911 granite eagle monument

Five years later, the painters and electricians have left and the last moving boxes have been unpacked. Early voters in late October had a chance to see the renovations and expansion firsthand. Orangetown's building department now welcomes residents and planners in the spacious, well-lit atrium. Modern IT systems have been installed.

The structure meets LEED standards, but the formal certification process was skipped because of its $100,000 price tag. The spare exterior finish also reassures voters that money was not wasted; the town even received donations of second-hand lobby furniture from Brosnan Risk Consultants in Pearl River, another proven way to build 'green.'

The funds being saved are going for other goals. For example, during her meeting with 10964, Supervisor Kenny took the opportunity to announce that Orangetown has just acquired 1.99 acres of river-front land on Piermont Ave in South Nyack for a new park and, it is hoped, a small boat launch. The shore-line property used to be the site of the Olson Center (a school for special needs adolescents) owned by the Living Christ Church. The Village of Nyack's adjoining shorefront Memorial Park is to the north on the other side of a small creek, so, as seen from the water, the two parks will appear to be a single park.