Village of Brookville’s officials ‘ long-held dream for a village hall has taken a step toward being fulfilled with a recent groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, April 26.
“When I first became mayor, there were plans drawn up, but it was not economically feasible,” says Mayor Daniel Serota, who has served for the past 12 years.
The village hall, which has been discussed since the 1970s, will become a reality at the Brookville Nature Park, where the groundbreaking took place.
Serota said the board of trustees currently meets in its building inspector’s home, and the village court meets at the Brookville Reform Church. The planning and zoning board meets at the AHRC Nassau Headquarters, located within the village.
He said the village is not centralized, and staff have outgrown the storage unit that holds all of their files and paperwork.
“We all realize it’s come time that we have to build a village hall and combine it with our new police department headquarters,” Serota said.
The Brookville Police Department serves 6,500 residents in the villages of Brookville, Cove Neck, Matinecock and Mill Neck, Serota said.
Serota said the new building will be about 10,000 square feet and accommodate the police headquarters and village hall, as well as the village courts and a community center for residents. There will be a parking lot for staff and residents.
Serota said the village will receive state and federal grants to help fund the project, but does not currently have an estimate for the total construction cost. He said the village will have an estimate on costs in the next few months when the project is up for bid. Construction on the project is estimated to take two years, he said.
Then-Mayor Michael Galgano secured the Brookville Nature Park site in 1970, and the village started budgeting for the project annually in 1993 when Richard Goodwin was mayor.
“It took a village literally to get this project underway,” Serota said in a press release.
