Tree work – one of the final touches to be added to the Genevieve D. Staley Civic Center (DeRuyter Town Hall) – began last week in the village of DeRuyter. A $125,000 Dormitory Authority of the State of New York grant will provide an emergency generator, air conditioning and final aesthetic work for the building.
Funding will Cover Remaining Work in Town Hall Makeover
By Martha E. Conway
(DeRuyter, NY – May 2013) The renovation work at DeRuyter Town Hall will be finished thanks to a $125,000 grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.
The bulk of the estimated $2.5 million project, which essentially gutted the former school building, was provided courtesy the Staley family of DeRuyter in honor of family matriarch Genevieve D. Staley, an alumna of the school. The renovations, which brought the building up to code, included entirely upgraded mechanicals and an elevator; it also has provided ample space not only for town offices, but also a Madison County Sheriff’s Office field station, the DeRuyter Free Library and the DeRuyter Community Services office.
Claude Staley, who served as general contractor – and often-time laborer – for the project, also replicated many of the historic aspects of the building.
“We were very pleased to be awarded this grant,” said Supervisor Daniel S. Degear, adding that Assemblyman William Magee (D-Nelson) and Senator David J. Valesky (D-Oneida) were pivotal in the successful grant application. “In the current economic climate, every cent counts, and we would have been waiting to put the finishing touches on the building.”
According to Degear, the money will be used to install an emergency generator and air conditioning, design and install signage and perform some aesthetic improvements.
The library was the last entity to move in – about a year ago, Degear said. Separate fundraising efforts were undertaken to supply the library with furniture and equipment it needed in the new space.