Selectmen sign project manager for municipal building project
Plans to renovate Town Hall and Hildreth House passed a major milestone this week as the Selectmen signed the contract to hire Design Technique, Inc. of Newburyport to work with the Municipal Building Committee to hire an architect and develop schematic designs for the two buildings in time for Town Meeting next spring.
Design Technique is the same firm that provided project management for the town library. The total cost of its work on behalf of the Municipal Building Committee is not to exceed $40,000, an amount that will come from the $185,000 approved by town voters for the work this fiscal year.
The cost of architectural services is estimated to cost an additional $65,000, MBC co-chairman Pete Jackson told the selectmen.
“We’d like to under-spend our budget,” Wade Holtzman, co-chair with Jackson, later told the Press.
The six-member MBC has been at work since late summer and is scrambling to have an architect on board so the actual work on schematic designs can begin. At the 2012 Town Meeting, voters will vote again to approve final plans and construction for the two buildings.
Asked if the committee was on schedule, Jackson said it was and expected the architect to be hired by early November as planned. He said that following a posting on the state registry last week, the town had already heard from 37 architectural firms, each requesting additional information on the project.
Town will spend $21,000 to design a drainage culvert
Selectmen this week approved the expenditure of $21,000 for the design of a culvert to correct poor drainage that continues to flood residences on Eldridge Road near Interstate 495 at the Harvard-Boxborough town boundary. Town Administrator Tim Bragan said he expected the cost of construction to be paid for with Federal Emergency Management Agency funds. The expenditure, he said, has the support of key members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, including Representative Nikki Tsongas and Senator John Kerry.
The vote in favor of the spending was 3-2, with selectmen Bill Johnson and Ron Ricci objecting. Ricci said the work would benefit Boxborough residents more than Harvard residents and that the neighboring town should bear more of the cost of design.
“We’re designing something for Boxborough for something that’s not our fault,” Ricci said.
In response, Bragan said the Boxborough town planner had devoted hours to the project and that Boxborough considered the planner’s time to be a contribution in kind.
