The outside entrance to the 30,000 square feet Via Entertainment at Via Port Rotterdam, 2016. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

ROTTERDAM –  Town residents will soon get their first look at a cost analysis report that will likely determine if town leaders pull up stakes and move Town Hall and police administrative functions to the Via Port Rotterdam mall or stay put and make major renovations to the aging municipal building and police station and courts to bring those facilities up to snuff.

One factor that may influence that decision is if the town is bound to a long-term lease with an option to buy agreement the board approved under the previous administration when the Democrats were the majority. 

The deal called for more than 100 town employees, including police and court workers, to occupy the roughly 86,500-square foot space in the mall where a Kmart store used to be, creating what Rotterdam officials had touted as a Town Center concept.  

In the November elections, three Republicans won the town board and supervisor seats, which flipped the council over to one controlled by the GOP.   

Supervisor Molly Collins said Wednesday her administration “didn’t have access” to the cost-analysis related to rehabbing the existing municipal building versus relocating to the former Rotterdam Square Mall when she took office in January. 

As a result, the new board approved a resolution requesting that Barton & Loguidice, an engineering firm, do the analysis.

The firm, Collins said, will make a presentation, possibly with renderings, about the price tag associated with the two options at a special meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Residents will also have a chance to comment. 

“When this came to light last November ... I don’t think that a lot of the town residents were aware that the lease had been signed, and so I think it’s important the residents understand that this was a lease that was signed by the previous administration,” she said. 

Collins declined comment and deferred to Town Attorney Jonathan Tingley when pressed about the possible legalities if the board decides against moving to the mall on West Campbell Road. He did not Thursday return a voicemail message. 

Former Councilman Steve Signore, who lost his re-election bid in November, said he was confident the new administration would stick with the plan to relocate to the mall given the extraordinary cost to fix up the antiquated municipal buildings.

"The tenor of it all is that it still going to go forward," said Signore.  

7 p.m. Wednesday July 27 at Rotterdam Town Hall  

Councilman Evan Christou said he supported the move to mall with the lease-to-buy clause but conceded that “in digging a little deeper since then,  some of the things that I thought were in the lease might not have been there.” 

He declined to elaborate, but said part of the appeal is having a centralized town hall, the fact that the deal called for rent to be put toward the purchase price and that the move might “breathe some life into Via Port.”  

“There were some estimates done under the previous administration, some of the people who were involved with DPW (public works) came up with some numbers that we felt at that time that we would be better off moving into a brand new vanilla box, and building it and shaping it that would be the most inviting to the public and most efficient from an operational standpoint,” said Christou, a Conservative who was endorsed by the Democrats. “Clearly, the new administration seems to  feel different, and they brought up some valid points.” 

He’s worried by what he views as “a lot of misinformation out there” and is hopeful that the meeting might set the record straight.

Collins, the supervisor, insisted she has not made up her mind on the two options. 

“I have tried to keep a very open mind, to see what’s going to best long term for the Rotterdam residents, so have I made up my mind completely? No, but I think it would be unfair for me to say I’m leaning one way more than the other before the residents actually have the information they need to make their own decision.”  

On Thursday, an employee at the firm said that Don Fletcher, was overseeing the Rotterdam project.  Fletcher, who is listed on the company’s website as a board member and senior vice president, did not return a message seeking comment.  

If Rotterdam moves to the mall, the town would then sell the John F. Kirvin Government Center on Sunrise Boulevard and 101 Princetown Road, the latter housing the police department and the town court.

By doing so, Rotterdam would join the city of Troy as one of the few places in the region that don’t have a dedicated municipal building. Troy has conducted its municipal functions out of Headley Park Place on River Street for years. 

Asked about a timeline, Collins said she would wait to hear what town residents have to say before making any decisions. “I need the residents to come out and speak and tell us what they need, what they want,” she added.

She said, however, that there is a possibility that the Town Board may take some sort of decisive action on the project at its Aug. 10 meeting.   

Paul Nelson covers cops and courts in Schenectady County as well as the suburban towns of Niskayuna and Rotterdam. Contact him at pnelson@timesunion.com or 518-454-5347.