Thomaston Board of Selectmen: Board OKs $634K For Next Phase of Opera House Restoration

10/6/26 6:00 p.m.

Present: First Selectman Rich Sileo. Selectmen Michael Burr and Beth Campbell.

The Town of Thomaston Board of Selectmen (BOS) approved an approximately $634,000 contract with EverGreene Architectural Arts for the second phase of the restoration project for the Thomaston Opera House. The resolution was unanimously approved at the Oct. 6 meeting after a motion by Selectman Beth Campbell and second by Selectman Michael Burr.

The Brooklyn-based firm will oversee the design and execution of decorative finish restoration of the auditorium walls of the Thomaston Opera House at 158 Main St., according to the Town’s request for proposals document.

“The design-builder will be responsible for developing the final decorative scheme — building on completed finishes investigations — and for executing that scheme through hand-applied plaster repair, painting, stenciling, glazing, and mural work,” Town officials wrote in the document.

The Opera House, built in 1884, is a landmark civic theater in active year-round use. The first phase of the project encompassed the rebuilding of the auditorium ceiling, re-establishing a rich historic palette of more than eighty colors. The wall restoration for phase two will be designed to be compatible with that ceiling.

“Only firms with demonstrated experience in historic decorative painting, stencil reconstruction, decorative plaster restoration, and mural work in landmark interiors will be considered,” officials wrote in the request for proposals.

Burr broke down the criteria involved for the Town to select the winning bid. EverGreene, Burr said, provided the lowest per-hour rate for labor.

“Qualifications and comparable project experience are weighted at 25%,” he noted. “Technical approach and work plan, including design methodology, weighted at 25%. Cost is weighted at 25%. Proposed schedule and ability to meet the project timeline 15%. Key personnel and staffing plan 10%.”

The project is likely to conclude in April, Burr said. EverGreene proposed a 26 to 29-week process, starting in October.

Also at the meeting, the BOS approved a revamped job description for the First Selectman’s Administrative Assistant position. The move was approved unanimously via a motion by Burr seconded by Campbell, and follows the departure of Administrative Assistant Deborah Bournival.

First Selectman Rich Sileo said he combined two prior job descriptions for the position. Sileo and Bournival combed through both and outlined the duties. Bournival layered in detail about her day-to-day responsibilities, the First Selectman said.

“She went through and reviewed other job descriptions for other administrative admins as well, just to sort of cross check, and came up with a new draft,” Sileo said. “The idea is to land on a job description and then post it to start gathering resumes and work on this process.

“I would hope, by the end of this month, to find someone and actually bring that person on board to parallel (Bournival) for the last couple months,” Sileo said.

The Board also voted unanimously to apply for a State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) survey and planning grant of $20,000. The motion was made by Burr and seconded by Campbell.

Sileo said the Town is drafting a statement that encapsulates the history of Thomaston’s downtown in an effort to designate the Town’s central area as historic. The Town has already hosted an initial public hearing, inviting residents and business owners to ask questions about the concept of a historic downtown.

“These (statements) are typically prepared by professionals who do historical research in the area,” Sileo said. “The historical research includes homes as well as businesses and other types of municipal buildings in the area.”

The designation of a historic downtown district would open the door for the Town to seek funding for development in that area, Sileo said. He used the example of potential redevelopment of the Thomaston Center School on Thomas Avenue as a building that would be prime for new development.

“If anything were to ever happen to the Center School, and we were to look for a developer to do something with that property, there would be dollars available,” Sileo said “So what this does is it creates a map — basically an area of the Town where all the homes and buildings in there are available and can avail themselves of these funds.

“It does not put any distinctive requirements on redevelopment or repair or anything like that,” he said.

The resolution to authorize the Town to seek the grant came as a surprise for Burr, he said.

“We've applied for countless grants over the years, and I don't remember ever having to authorize the First Selectman to go for a grant,” he said.

Sileo said the application comes with the requisite resolution.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:23 p.m.

The next meeting was scheduled for Nov. 3.

9/15/26 6:04 p.m.

Present: Sileo, Burr, and Campbell.

The Thomaston BOS unanimously approved a $25,000 contract with Tighe and Bond Engineering for engineering services related to creating an insert that would temporarily repair a collapsed old stone culvert on Elm Street. The motion at the Sept. 15 meeting was made by Burr and seconded by Campbell.

The culvert is in the area near UniMetal Surface Finishing headquarters at the corner of Elm and Maple streets.

“It needs to be repaired before the winter,” Sileo said. “They need to do some engineering work to actually design a recast insert to go in there and stabilize the walls and the roof with the cold earth, such that we can put some pavement back over it and have something we can plow over in the winter.”

The Board also unanimously moved to decline an offer to return to the job from a contractor who was unable to complete roof replacement work on the Thomaston Opera House’s roof. The motion was made by Burr and seconded by Campbell.

The contractor, Young Developers, did not finish the work, and now the Town will use retainage funds to complete the remainder of the project. Retainage in construction is a percentage that’s held back from the earnings of a contractor or subcontractor during the length of a project, according to construction financing company Bild.

“We have been going back and forth with them, contacting them, asking them to come back, schedule time, finish the job, finish the work they needed to complete,” Sileo said.

The contractors eventually reached out to the Town again to attempt to finish the job on Sept. 21, Sileo said. Burr said the Town had essentially not had communication with Young Developers for more than a year.

“I personally have very low confidence that they will actually show up,” Sileo said.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:32 p.m.