I am writing to encourage all Deerfield residents to vote “yes” at the Oct. 7 Town Meeting at 6 p.m. to approve spending Community Preservation Act funds to restore and rehabilitate the historic 1888 Building (the old Grammar School on the corner of North Main and Conway streets) into town offices.

This expenditure is unanimously recommended by the nine members of the Community Preservation Committee, which includes representatives of the Planning Board, the Historical Commission, the Conservation Commission, the Board of Assessors, and the Open Space and Recreation Committees, as well as the Select Board’s housing representative.

The historical preservation of the 1888 Building is exactly the type of project that CPA funding is intended to make possible. The CPA project funds of $3.8 million will preserve this special building in the heart of South Deerfield and repurpose it into up-to date town offices. The project will be paired with a $4 million federal grant and ARPA money, which will fund a connected town office space that will provide full ADA accessibility to the 1888 Building.

With the efficient pairing of CPA funds for the preservation of the 1888 Building and federal funding, Deerfield will gain a new center of municipal pride and a highly functional set of office spaces, without raising any new taxes. Our alternative is to allow the 1888 Building to further deteriorate, eventually requiring the cost of demolition, with the costs of providing town office space left outstanding and requiring future tax expenditures.

I urge all Deerfield residents to please vote “Yes” for CPA funding of the restoration of the 1888 Building at Special Town Meeting on Oct. 7.

Julie Caswell

South Deerfield