Politics & Government

Celebrate the Public Safety Building Sunday!

You're invited to a cornerstone-laying ceremony at noon at the new building, 911 Norwich-New London Turnpike

There’s a celebration on Sunday, and you are invited! No RSVP necessary, and you may dress as you like – though, fair warning: Some will be wearing tuxedos.

It’s the cornerstone-laying ceremony of the new Montville Public Safety Building, and it is set for noon, at the building, 911 Norwich-New London Turnpike.

This is going to be a very cool ceremony, indeed, celebrating the new building, which, as Jack Platt says, “belongs to the people of Montville.”

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First off, the cornerstone is going to contain a time capsule, and you’re invited to bring a small item to be included in the capsule. Platt, the chairman of the Public Safety Building Committee, says the capsule will be opened at some time in the future.

In addition to individual Montville citizens’ contributions, organizations in town have been invited to bring items to be placed in the 4-inch by 17-inch cylinder.

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The town’s fire companies, the Montville Police Department, Little League, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts are among the groups that have accepted the invitation.

Platt says the items he knows of so far include a baseball, a badge, a fire company patch, a challenge coin from the Montville PD, and a copy of the building plans for the Public Safety Building.

“The items are commemorative of Montville at this time and place,” he says, so that, in the future, people “can see what was when the building was built.”

Citizens will be invited to place items on a table, and what will fit will be included.

The time capsule is only a part of Sunday’s ceremony.

The Freemasons, dressed in tuxedos, will be there to bless the cornerstone.

“This Freemasons thing, this is quite the ceremony,” Platt says. He says the committee heard about the Freemasons’ work, and asked Mayor Ron McDaniel to reach out to the group. He did, Platt says, and they accepted.

“It’s a pretty exciting opportunity for the town to have the Freemasons in to do the cornerstone ceremony,” McDaniel says. “I’ve never seen it personally; I’ve heard it is quite something to behold. I’m looking forward to their participation in making our public safety building even that much more special by their participation.”

In addition to the Freemasons, the Tyl Middle School chorus will perform. There will be color guards from the fire departments, police, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. State representatives will be on hand.

“Most important,” Platt says, “we’re hoping to have a tremendous turnout of townspeople.”

The building is coming along well, he says. The duct work is going to go in shortly The brick is going up. In the back, the doors for the sally port at on, and all the windows are now on the building, except for the big one in front, and Platt says that could be on by the time of the ceremony.

“It’s just moving along terrific. The building will be built on time.”

The citizens of Montville approved a bond for the Public Safety Building in November 2010. Construction work started in 2011; the building is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

Platt says it’s important to remember that the citizens of Montville built the building and own the building.

“It belongs to the people of Montville,” he says. “It’s going to house the constabulary, it’s going to house the dispatch center, it’s going to house the animal control officer. But it belongs to the town.

“I won’t even say ‘taxpayers.’ If you’re in Montville, it belongs to you.”

The ceremony starts at noon on Sunday, at the Public Safety Building, 911 Norwich-New London Turnpike. You may park in the Montville Hardware Parking lot, and when that’s filled, in the driveway to Corrigan-Radgowski. Montville Police will be there to direct traffic.


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