GILEAD — Gilead Town Clerk Patsy Cox said townspeople will not be able to vote in the Town Hall on Nov. 7 because of black mold.
Voters will vote at the Town Office because of black mold inside Gilead Town Hall. Rose Lincoln/
Warden Sharon Leighton who was in town office picking up the ballots to post, said, “we’ve always used that town hall for voting. How many years [now]?”
Drips had been coming through leaks in the ceiling and puddling on the floors. Over the winter the roof was repaired but by then it was too late, the water had already leaked into the room creating the mold.
Cox said, “it’s not up to code,” adding that it wasn’t just the mold, the wood stove which is the only source of heat for town hall, is likely not up to code, either.
The March Gilead Town Meeting had to be moved to town office from the 1883 town hall, because the roof was still in disrepair. Contractor Steven Taylor of Woodstock finished the roof in May, despite the theft of some of the roofing shingles.
Voting will be held in the adjacent town office.
A representative from the state sent Cox a map of how the back room in town office would need to be set up.
“I had to fight with them [the state] for weeks to get approval to move voting into the town office,” said Cox. The 10-foot, wooden, butcher block, table in the back room took up too much space. They said 6 feet on each side of the table was not enough clearance to go around it to vote, said Cox.
Town Office Deputy Clerk Caeri Buck and her husband Allen, cut the tables’ legs down in order to move it from the the room.
Asked what the hefty table was made of, Buck said, “five dead bodies. It literally took three or four of us to slide it across the floor. I want to say that table weighs at least 1,000 pounds.”
They will need to move the table back to town office quickly because the following night is select board and they will need to meet around a table in a heated space.
Voting is from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. ov. 7; The selectboard meets at 6 p.m. Nov. 8.
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