Johnston Rec Office Opening Set for June 1

A ribbon-cutting and reception are scheduled for Saturday morning, June 1, at the newly-rebuilt Johnston Recreation Department office, which had been closed following a fire last October.

Recreation staffers, who had relocated to the Johnston Municipal Courthouse followng the blaze, had moved back into the building by Tuesday afternoon, May 28, and were testing out the computer systems.

During a recent interview at Johnston Town Hall, Mayor Joseph Polisena spoke about the work that's gone into rebuilding the facility.

According to Polisena, the town collected about $187,000 from its insurance coverage through the Rhode Island Interlocal Trust — and because town workers did nearly all of the work to fix up the building, the project stayed within that budget.

[As of Wednesday, Finance Director Joseph Chiodo said in a separate interview, the town had spent $172,634 to rehab the building.]

"We didn't spend five cents of the taxpayers' money — it was all paid for through the insurance," Polisena explained. "They really came through on this — I don't think you can build a house for $187,000."