CLINTON — During the Clinton Select Board meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, members voted 3-1 not to proceed with a proposed $170,000 town investment in The Strand Theatre marquee after members questioned the future of the privately owned building and the property owner’s contribution.
During the meeting, Philip Duffy, Clinton’s community and economic development director, said the town received a $100,000 state American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant for the project. Following the termination of the previous lease, officials released a revised invitation to bid in July. The lowest qualified bid, submitted Aug. 5, was $140,292, in excess of the state ARPA grant, Duffy said.
According to a general contract notice published by the Office of the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, since at least March, the Town of Clinton has been seeking proposals for the restoration of The Strand Theater’s marquee at 58 High Street. The proposed work includes evaluating the existing structure and removing and replacing or restoring the marquee’s membrane roof, signage, fasciae, soffits and lighting.
Duffy said that during a meeting of The Strand Subcommittee the previous week, members considered an amendment to The Strand agreement that would have allowed the town to use $70,000 in ARPA funds for the marquee while reducing property owner Justin Barrett’s required contribution from a 50 percent match, or $35,000, to 10 percent, or $7,000, of the town’s contribution.
“The proposal was not viewed favorably at The Strand Subcommittee meeting, so it would be up to this board to decide whether we should use town ARPA funds for the marquee,” Duffy said. “If not, we don’t have committed funds and we cannot proceed.
Select Board member Brendan Bailey, who opposed using the town’s ARPA funds for the project, said, “To just put a marquee up with nothing behind it, even though we can say it is grant money, it is ARPA money—it’s still tax money. In my opinion, it is just going to end up being a waste when you are not going to have anything, a marquee that says what?”
Select Board Chair Mary Dickhaut said she knew there was going to be very little appetite for the marquee project because there was very little that was going to be done on the inside of the building.
“I have no intention of putting $70,000 into the marquee because I just don’t see that anything else is coming and I don’t think it is going to come for a long time, if it comes at all,” Dickhaut said. “That building has been put up for lease for years. The owner had no appetite to sell the building. That was always a difficult sell in the first place because it needed a substantial amount of work, and I don’t know of anyone that is going to put a $1,000,000-plus into something they don’t own.”
Duffy later added, “This is an opportunity to stabilize a prominent visual landmark in our downtown, it is not typical that it is publicly funded.”
The board then voted on the motion not to award the bid for the marquee restoration project, which would have been funded with the $100,000 state ARPA grant and $70,000 in town ARPA funds. The motion passed 3-1.
