Building Committee Minutes
7:00 PM March 18, 2010
Stoddard Town Hall
Members present: Penny Betz, Dick Briere, Lou GrandPré, Sandy Holland, P.J. Lamothe, Harry Power, Amy Rokoszak, and David Vaillancourt
Absent: Alan Rumrill
Dick Briere called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
Dick stated that there was an interest in having one more public informational meeting to present options for town offices and Town Hall restoration. A tentative date of Saturday, May 15th at 10 AM had been established during a selectmen’s meeting. He moved that we conduct this meeting, Amy seconded, all voted for it.
Regarding repairs for the police station building, Dick said he had gone to Home Depot and priced out the materials needed at about $1,050, regular retail price. Using the formula of 20% materials and 80% labor, he expects the repairs would cost about $5,000. According to a five-year old appraisal report, it would cost approximately $65K to put on a 12’ x 24’ addition and reroof and upgrade the existing building. Harry asked why the repairs for the fire station weren’t put in the selectmen’s budget. Amy asked why, instead of spending $5,000 that would be wasted, we wouldn’t spend the additional $57K to put on the addition and do it right. We need to get an update on general building costs per square foot, taking into consideration that different occupancies/uses will require specific building differences that may affect costs. P.J. said that the ceiling/roof at the police station cannot be replaced without adhering to code.
Dick commented that this is the last year departments will be submitting items to the selectmen if the anticipated expense is greater than $1,000. They will be brought to the Building Committee first, then taken up with the Board of Selectmen if necessary.
Amy returned to the subject of the Baybutt design for the Cahill property stating she thinks we have a problem when we put it into a Warrant Article, because this is a figure “out of the sky”. Are we going to say we are recommending this design? Did we ever approve it? No. She continued, noting that the Article would need to be written to really investigate the concept. She thinks we should not include the Article although she understands the logic in doing so. She doesn’t think we have enough information to be credible. Dick said he was aware that Amy was the only “no” vote on this when it was voted on. He added that the Article could use language of “concept” and clearly state what is not included in the price.
Penny said she fears a “real danger” if we don’t get consensus from the town, and we only vote for the Gould House and it doesn’t fly. What do we do next year? Amy said we can’t limit a warrant article to $750K when we know there will be additional costs. Lou said he disagreed totally. He noted that Rod Parsons (Baybutt) had said that it was “all engineered”. Amy said he had not and she wants a printout of what is included in that price, wants it in writing so that it isn’t just “general conversation”.
Dick said that we have materials to present on May 15th and after that we will move on to the police station, fire station and library. Harry said it all comes down to money with the people. They will ask, “Do I really need it or do I only want it?”
Penny said she does not have figures on an addition for the library, adding if they have some money (matching funds) they can go for an L-Chip grant. She says their feeling is to stay with the original library building, just putting on an addition, but the townspeople should decide. Part of the money could come through fund-raising. It was suggested that the library trustees call several architects, see if they could come up with at least three proposals to get an idea of cost.
Amy expressed a concern on “fronting” funds to accomplish a task, then receiving the matching funds from a grant, whether the grant money would be returned to the correct budget or would it go into the general fund. Lou said that we can designate where the funds are to go. Penny said the Library should ask for $15,000. The Building Committee, then, needs two $20K warrant articles: Library ($15K) and Police Station ($5K) plus $20K for design and Committee operations. If nothing passes, we will have zero to work with if we don’t ask for some operations money. Lou said to put in money for engineering of the Cahill property if the Gould House doesn’t pass. If it does pass, table the article for another year. Amy said she would call Meridien to see what they would charge. Lou said that we don’t need Meridien, that David Vaillancourt and a soils scientist could do it.
The Committee will next meet on Thursday March 25th. This meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
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Sandy Holland