Ramona Town Hall Trustees Set November for Re-Opening West Wing

Renovation work is getting into full swing in the west wing of the historic .

Trustees Darrell Beck and Bob Hailey, along with Darrel Ryker and Steve Brindley, were busy Friday morning preparing the walls for the next step, which will be sprinklers and air-conditioning outlets.  

“I’m glad to see this is finally getting started,” Beck said.

Once the sprinkling system is certified, the room will be ready for the drywall to be installed. After that will be painting the walls and the final step will be laying down a new floor.

Trustees anticipate the west wing will be ready to open in November. The first event planned is a three-day craft show starting Dec. 1. The west wing will be available for the community to hold events and meetings once the renovation work is complete.

Trustees opted to concentrate on the renovation of the west wing and not decorate the building in late October as a haunted house for Halloween.

“The haunted house was canceled with mixed emotions,” Trustee Sandee Salvatore said, following the Sept. 21 board meeting. “We were sad to have to cancel it for 2011 but we are looking forward to its return in 2012. … There just was no way to get the work completed (in the west wing) and set up for another awesome haunted house.”

A $5,000 grant recently received from Barona Resort & Casino will be used for ongoing expenses of keeping the Town Hall open.

The trustees praised Honorary Mayor Sharon Davis for her work on organizing the annual talent show and 9/11 tribute earlier this month. The event garnered a profit of $2,589, which is less than what was anticipated. The first event in 2010 brought in $6,141 for the Town Hall coffers.

“The community needs to support us a bit more,” Salvatore said.

Davis blamed the current economy as the reason for fewer people attending this year and lower bids on gift baskets in the silent auction. Two of the baskets did not have any bids, Davis said.

“We just didn’t have the disposable income this year,” Davis added.

She estimated the attendance was around 200 while last year’s event had more than 300 people showing up. The trustees will make a decision by next May if there will be a similar event planned for 2012.

State Sen. Joel Anderson, who attended the Sept. 10 fundraiser, sent certificates of appreciation for Davis and each of the five board members.