Steve Thurston (2021)
The new Music Hall in the Saratoga Springs City Hall. In August 2018, lightning struck the building near the corner in the upper right.
Saratoga Springs has no timetable, yet, for reopening City Hall, though the city council is talking about it, said Michael Veitch, the Department of Public Works business manager, today. According to Mayor Meg Kelly how and when to open will be decided by Public Works and the Department of Public Safety.
Veitch said they are looking at security measures, especially which entrance the public will use and whether or not the public will be announced before entry as they are now.
Closed since December then partially reopened to the public earlier this year, entry to City Hall is now through a side entrance where people are stopped at a makeshift reception table with the requisite Plexiglas screen, forehead thermometer and a Purell hand sanitizer. Angela runs the reception desk.
The building opened only for a few months in 2020, after a $9 million renovation, and then the pandemic hit, shutting it down again. (The dollar figures come from a story in the Saratogian.) City Hall was struck by lightning in August 2018, and the city took the opportunity not only to fix that damage but upgrade the building. Offices and staff moved to the recreation center on the east side of the city during the renovation.
Commissioner of Public Safety, Robin Dalton, offered a quick tour of city hall. People were working in offices and at desks throughout the building.
Changes to the building will allow the council to stream meetings directly from city council chamber. The music room, where council meetings had taken place during the pandemic but before the building was totally closed, will open to community productions.
“We really want it to be part of the community,” Dalton said.