The borough must figure out how to pay for $8.6 million in repairs.
RUTHERFORD -- The Williams Center, the historic downtown theater in Rutherford, is a hot election topic this year, just as it was in 2015.
Mark Goldsack and Thomas Mullahey, the Democratic candidates for council, remember the discussion well.
They were running last year too, unsuccessfully as it turned out. But despite all the talk from last year's campaign, Mullahey said the borough has taken few steps to save the shuttered Williams Center.
In April, Bergen County, which owns the Williams Center and leases it to Rutherford for a nominal fee, released a study estimating the cost of repairing the center at $8.6 million. The ceiling of one of the theaters, the Newman, needs extensive repair.
The county is unlikely to shoulder that burden said Alicia D'Alessandro, a spokeswoman for County Executive Jim Tedesco. The next step, she said, is for Rutherford to create a redevelopment plan to determine what to do with the center and how it will fit into downtown. After that, the county will appraise the building.
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All four council candidates believe the Williams Center should live on as a home for live theater and cinemas.
"We've had it for such a long time and we want that to continue," said Mark O'Connor, a Republican incumbent councilman running for re-election.
Rutherford declared the Williams Center and the neighborhood around it an Area in Need of Rehabilitation in August. The borough must draft a plan for that rehabilitation.
The plan will ensure movie theaters and live theater exist at the Williams Center "no matter what," O'Connor said, even if the county sells the building to a developer. Mayor Joseph DeSalvo will appoint a committee to draft the plan at the next council meeting.
Michael Duffy, a newcomer Republican running for council, grew up watching movies at the Williams Center when it was still called the Rivoli. He said the $8.6 million cost of repairing the center can't fall on Rutherford.
"That's a lot of money for a small town to put up," he said.
If he's elected, he said he would sit down with county officials to "discuss all the possibilities" for the Williams Center--and how to pay for them.
Goldsack and Mullahey blame past administrations for letting the Williams Center fall into such disrepair. The Newman Theater and the adjoining Black Box Theater have needed repairs since 2005, and finally closed in 2012 when plaster began falling from the ceiling.
"It's unfortunate that it ever had to get to this point where the fate of what could be a vital piece of our downtown had to come down to the wire like this," Goldsack said.
The Democrats want to work with residents to see what they want to the Williams Center to be before presenting those plans to the county. Goldsack said they would consider partnering with private business to help pay for repairs.
Mullahey blamed the holdup in coming up with a plan on the fact that the borough has no administrator. The last borough administrator, Richard Sheola, left in spring of 2015.
Mayor Joseph DeSalvo has taken on some of the duties of administrator since then. However, he scrapped plans to become a full-time mayor after residents objected.
Mullahey said he and Goldsack have good relationships with county officials, which may help them negotiate a future deal to save the Williams Center.
The Williams Center has been part of Rutherford since 1922, when it opened as the Rivoli Theater, hosting vaudeville acts and screening silent films. It burned down in 1977, but was rebuilt and renamed for poet William Carlos Williams.
It hosted an eclectic mix of live theater, from country singers to Russian ballet until the center filed for bankruptcy in 1995. The county took over and has owned it since.
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.