Just in case the it has slipped your mind, the new building project, the Community Center, has its roots in an earlier administration. A committee, headed up by Councilman Richard Oakley, along with Martin “Bruzzy” Hendricks, and Carlton Hendricks Jr, working with Callahan, Inc, came up with an efficient and .attractive design for the building.
The process began in 2007, and the committee put in a lot of time trying to find a design that would fit our needs for the present and the future. You can see the floor plans on this page (click on the picture to enlarge).
Richard and his committee made sure to present the plan to the Tribal employees for their input and approval, then to the Tribal Elders. The plans were then presented to the Tribe at a regular Sunday meeting to roars of approval and a general feeling of great progress. The committee went so far as to go before the Town of Mashpee with the plan, and work with Callahan to obtain funding.
Unfortunately, in 2009 Cromwell and company took over the Tribe and, as with other things, that was the end of that project. The Community Center became the Government Center. I hope that that subtlety of that difference is not wasted on the casual reader. It is a question of who the building belongs to, does it not?
For reasons not to hard to figure out, the Cromwell administration changed the design of the building, and reduced its size. Mr. Oakley was emphatic in expressing his opinion that the building is much too small for future and even present needs.
When Mr. Cromwell goes about tooting his horn about how he was singularly responsible for the new building, if it is ever completed, remember what you heard here.
