It was a little before 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and Mayor Joseph Solomon pegged the familiar smell from all the way across the freshly renovated, newly opened Buttonwoods Community Center.

“Is that fresh coffee I’m smelling?” he asked, shortly after concluding his weekly interview with the Beacon.

He was right – coffee was brewing in one of the corner offices along the lower level of the center, the aroma of which wafted upwards and through the building to the upper level conference room where the interview had been conducted. It brought a smile to his face as a good example of how open, bright and full of life the once-defunct center had now become.

“I wanted openness. The general public wants to come in and they want to see,” he said. “I think the openness of government, the transparency, it flows. I’m very pleased with what I see here.”

It has been just over a year since Solomon and Ward 7 Councilman Stephen McAllister – who represents the ward that includes Buttonwoods – made a pledge prioritizing the reopening of the community center, which was shuttered in 2017 by former mayor Scott Avedisian, who reported it would cost about $500,000 to get the building back into a condition where it could house any activities.

McAllister recalled the center shutting down very shortly after he assumed his role on the council, and said his constituents made it clear to him they wanted the building back. At a meeting with the Warwick Rotary Club shortly after Solomon assumed full mayoral duties following Avedisian’s departure, both he and McAllister said they would be working towards that goal.

It took work to get there, and the city was fortunate to receive a donation of labor from Furey Roofing Co. of Warwick, who took $5,000-worth of materials purchased by the city and turned them into a brand-new roof for the building. And the work didn’t stop there.

An Access to Public Records Act request showed that the city spent $88,195 on the renovation of the Buttonwoods Center through emergency funding. These expenditures included things like repairs to the sprinkler system (about $25,000 over three expenditures) and the HVAC system in the building (a $38,600 expenditure), in addition to a fire alarm installation for $7,825.

“That happened on some occasions where things were uncovered that could have created more damage – just get it done. Get me a few estimates,” Solomon said of the utilization of emergency expenditures. “It’s more cost effective to do that, especially if we had to wait 30 days, it could be more detrimental and more costly for that matter. Then, we probably wouldn’t be here.”

With the Buttonwoods Center fully open, the city’s Tax Collector, Tax Assessor, City Council President and liaison offices, Building and Planning Departments – which had been uprooted and placed in less than ideal conditions at the former Greene Elementary School on Draper Avenue following a burst pipe at the former City Hall Annex Building in January of 2018 – now have permanent homes.

“One of the most important things is seeing the smiling faces of the employees,” Solomon said. He said that the city’s personnel department, community development office and Management Information Services (MIS) department would also be moving out of Greene School within a couple weeks to the former Randall Holden Elementary School. He said this would be another temporary measure as they search for something more permanent.

Solomon said he has plans for a paying tenant to also use the school (an announcement will be made in the next couple of weeks) and that he has no intentions of marketing the school as he is looking to do with Aldrich and Wickes Schools and the former school administration buildings on Warwick Avenue.

Residents shuffled in and out of the tax collector’s office throughout the visit and official ribbon cutting, with the Mayor acting as an unofficial greeter and doorman for a few of them. He said that the opening of the center has been a total team effort, and that he has been pleased with people’s reaction to that effort.

A longtime municipal employee said of the three offices she’s had in all those years, this was the best.

“This is the product. It’s wonderful. You see the smiling faces of people coming in. They’re pleasantly surprised when they’re leaving,” he said. “They just got through paying their taxes and they were smiling and happy.”

Of particular importance to McAllister, of course, is that the residents who enjoyed playing cards and other tabletop games that were displaced when the center closed now have their home back. The large community room will remain as such, with many tables and chairs already set up. McAllister envisions the space being available for public meetings.