Rationale behind council vote explained

By: Contributed | Orange County Review
Published: November 12, 2009

To the editor,
I just want to share a few facts for those who are concerned about the recent council decision to put the general public use of the Orange Community Room on hold. In the first six months of 2009, the room was used 156 times. Of those uses, 52 were by the community and 104 were for town business and events. The revenue generated for those 52 uses was $900. The maintenance of the room was $3,550. That includes water, heat and air, not janitorial service.
The room was created for a dual purpose as I understand it - to be a community center, but also to be the official meeting space of town council, the Orange Town Planning Commission, and to serve as a meeting room for town business. The problem is twofold: There was no budgeting for staff to manage a community room, and no provisions to create a sound system that could withstand the rigors of being moved on a regular basis. So, over time, the public works staff has been tapped to assist and support private and nonprofit events and our sound and video equipment have been compromised, making it sometimes unpredictable in recording town business. The result is that it is often difficult to get good sound quality in our video tapes that many watch on the public access channel … which is currently down due to renovation of the town hall, but I digress.
The one solution that was put on the table was to install a partition to protect the sound equipment. This would allow a portion of the room to still be available for civic and nonprofit uses. That partition was estimated to cost $7,000. The staffing situation would remain unresolved. Oh, and a portable sound system would cost another $1,500 so that folks using the room could still be heard.
These are the challenges that council has been discussing in meeting after meeting since Aug. 17. The town does provide a community room at the Orange Train Station - I know that has some issues too, but it is a nice venue.
There are always two sides to the story and I understand that a previous council had a wonderful vision for this space, but the problems are outweighing the planning. I am open to hearing realistic suggestions on meeting two diverse needs in the same space and keeping everyone happy. Thoughts? Let me know: spec_housekeeping@firstva.com.
Nancy Alexander
Orange Town Council member

Rationale behind council vote explained

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