Mineola’s Village Hall will get some renovations in the coming months that are two years in the making.
Workers will install new, automatic doors, install a new awning, replace the sidewalk and signage outside, and revamp the lobby at the Washington Avenue building, which also serves as the village’s community center.
Once the work is complete, the lobby will finally be home to the John DaVanzo Wall of Honor, a shrine to Mineola’s most dedicated community servants. Three people have been picked for the wall since its inception in 2015, but the plaques honoring them still don’t have a home.
“It’s going to be something that this village can be proud of,” Mayor Scott Strauss said.
The Village Board on Wednesday approved a $334,000 contract with Mineola-based Web Construction to do the work, which will be paid for with a federal grant, the village’s Development Incentive Bonus fund and the village reserve fund.
The Village Hall building, formerly a school, opened in 1996 after the village government spent years in a dilapidated space. It hasn’t received many cosmetic upgrades since then, village officials said.
The renovation will make it look more inviting by moving the sign closer to the street and replacing the concrete walkway with brick pavers, Strauss said.
The new doors will also make the building more accessible to people who use wheelchairs or walkers, village Clerk Joseph Scalero said. The rear entrance has automatic doors, but the front lacks them.
The $155,000 grant will pay for the new handicap-accessible doors at the front entrance and at a hallway leading to the community center facilities, Scalero said.
While there is no set timeline for the work, Strauss said he hopes it will be finished before the next Wall of Honor honoree is named in October. The wall will be in the lobby immediately to the right of the front doors.
The project has been in the works since just before Strauss and Mineola Chamber of Commerce President Tony Lubrano conceived the wall, Strauss said. Since then the plaques have sat out of view Village Hall, he said.
“I’m praying that it’s done so we can have the unveiling here, finally,” Strauss said.
The wall is named for DaVanzo, a lifelong Mineola resident and World War II veteran who served on the Village Board and the North Hempstead Town Board. He died in 2014 at age 92.
DaVanzo and Lou Sanders, the founder and editor of the Mineola American newspaper, were the first two Wall of Honor inductees. Former village Mayor Ed Smith was inducted last year.
