Mayor Pierce to talk to state about State Office Building rental fees

WATERTOWN — The green beer wasn’t flowing, Irish Step Dancers weren’t performing and the winner of the Donegal Beard Contest wasn’t chosen at the Dulles State Office Building this past weekend.

Organizers of the North Country Goes Green Irish Festival moved the event to the Cerow Arena, saying it’s just too expensive to hold the event it in the State Office Building’s lobby and 11th floor anymore.

So Mayor Sarah V.C. Pierce hopes to convince the state’s Office of General Services to lower its rental prices so the Irish festival and a series of other cultural nonprofit organizations can afford to bring their events back to the Washington Street building.

She plans to get feedback from the nonprofit organizations and then reach out to OGS to see if something can be done so that so that the events can return to the State Office Building.

City Councilman Robert O. Kimball brought up the subject during Monday night’s City Council meeting.

Kimball, who’s performed on the building’s auditorium stage during productions of the Little Theatre and Lyric Theater over the years, said the building sits idle because those organizations cannot pay “the really significant” increases.

They are small nonprofit organizations that not only present cultural events and musical performances but also improve the city’s quality of life, he said.

For instance, all proceeds from the Irish Festival go to local scholarships for kids.

“It’s just a shame,” he said,

Before moving it to Clayton, organizers of the Irish festival paid the state about $12,000 for the weekend event in recent years, said Dave Missert, co-chair of the event.

This year’s event cost about half that in Clayton, with attendance “at par” for when it was held in Watertown, he said.

“That’s 50% or 60% less than what we can do with scholarships,” he said.

At the State Office Building, the Irish festival folks also were responsible for paying for security, custodial service and dealing with more bureaucratic red tape. The Cerow Arena people were easier to deal with than the more cumbersome OGS, he said.

Nonetheless, Missert has no hard feelings with the state about the cost increase. He understands that OGS was establishing more uniform fees across the state for using its facilities, he said.

However, it’s already been decided that the Irish festival will be staying in Clayton next year, he said.

Both the Little Theatre and the Lyric Theater have found a new home at the recently opened 150-seat theater in Jefferson Community College’s $3.4 million downtown education and Small Business Development Center in a renovated building on lower Franklin Street.

The cozy setting in the former Strand Theater hosted the Little Theatre’s production of “The Vagina Monologues” this past weekend. The Lyric Theater will present the musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” there this spring. And the North Country Arts Council moved last fall to the Jefferson Historical Society Museum across the street for its annual arts show.

While they left the State Office Building for financial reasons, Stage Notes, a theater company that helps students fulfill their passion for musical theater, remains at the State Office Building. It will put on a production of “Anything Goes” there this summer.

The theater company is known for its larger productions that need the building’s large stage, said Kyle Aumell, a board member and an artist director.

The organization was able to work out a three-year deal with OGS to stay at the building. The state ended up agreeing to a 4% increase for each of the three years.

But the cost had already increased from about $1,500 to the current charge between $3,000 and $4,500, Aumell said.

“It was a break, but not a good deal,” he said.

After the Irish Festival announced it was leaving the building last fall, Aumell posted a long social media message that spelled out how the price increases would impact the nonprofits and the community in general.

Losing the Irish festival hurt downtown businesses from the overflow business of people eating in restaurants and staying in local hotels, he said.

It didn’t make sense for the building to be dark and not bring in revenues caused by local organizations using other venues, he said.

Last fall, local state lawmakers intervened and tried to persuade the OGS about how Watertown would be adversely impacted. He especially credited state Assemblyman Scott A. Gray for doing what he could.

Mayor Pierce plans to approach Gray about the situation.

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