Town Hall elevator installation complete

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The ageless Johnston Town Hall is now fully accessible to those with disabilities.

“This is the best money we’ve ever spent on this building,” Mayor Joseph Polisena said. “The elevator blends in nicely with the aesthetics of the building, and is really simple to operate.”

Workers recently completed installation of the new elevator. It was part of much-needed repairs both inside and outside the building that cost a total of $140,229.50.

As the mayor noted, however, the “entire project came at no extra expense to the taxpayers of Johnston.”

“This was paid for along with other Johnston Town Hall improvements by our successful lawsuit against Resource Recovery and Broad Rock Energy,” he said.

Polisena said the project was long overdue, and has been on his “bucket list” for quite some time.

“Now, thank goodness, all our taxpayers have complete access to Town Hall,” he said. “And I’m pleased to report that East Coast Masonry – a Johnston company – was the lowest bidder and did not go over the budget for any part of this important renovation project.”

East Coast Masonry was the general contractor for the project, which required lots of welding inside and outside the historic building and also featured installation of a new concrete handicap-accessibility ramp with railings as well as new stairs at the rear of Town Hall.

Barbara Thornton of Brewster Thornton Group Architects designed the elevator portion of the renovation project.

“Barbara did a great job,” Polisena said. “It was difficult to design because of the age of the building, and we wanted something that blended in with the building. We had to retrofit the building to make the elevator work. It wasn’t easy, but I’m very, very happy with the way it turned out. Again, Town Hall is now fully accessible to people with disabilities.”

There was a time, the mayor remembered, when Johnston Town Hall staffers would literally have to go outside help people with disabilities come into the building to do their respective transactions.

“We also had to send a staff person – with a police officer – to some people’s homes for different transactions,” he said. “We’re still willing to do that, but our new elevator is really simple to operate.”

The new elevator is located inside the rear door to Johnston Town Hall, and all a person has to do is press a button and the door opens. They can press another button inside the elevator that will take them to the main lobby, where staffers will direct them to the office they need to visit.

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