This week, after four months of design and debate, the Municipal Building Committee and its architects delivered designs for the renovation and expansion of Town Hall and Hildreth House to the Board of Selectmen for their approval.
The presentation, which was open to the public and was also attended by the capital and finance committees, was scheduled for Thursday night, March 1, in Volunteers Hall in the library, after the Press went to print.
There, Drayton Fair of LLB Architects, the town’s designer, was scheduled to present designs for the two buildings, along with the estimated cost of implementing them. If Selectmen accept the results, they will direct Town Administrator Tim Bragan and town counsel Mark Lanza to prepare an article for the upcoming April town meeting that asks permission to borrow the money to start work on Town Hall later this year.
Latest recommendations
include a stage
This is not the first time the building committee has appeared before Selectmen. In January, Selectmen rejected the initial recommendations of its five-member panel and in a 3-2 vote asked it to scale back its designs and return in six weeks. Since then, the committee has reduced the size of planned additions to Town Hall and Hildreth House by roughly 1,000 square feet apiece, and bowed to a preference among residents who attended public forums in December and January for an “open” Town Hall second floor, a decision made easier by the lower cost of that option.
This week the committee made more changes to its designs for Town Hall, voting unanimously to include a formal stage and lift on its second floor (see the drawing) and an option for a slate roof. The committee agreed that the $79,000 needed to build the stage should not be part of the funding request for the project, but raised through private donations.
Covering Town Hall with slate roof would cost an estimated $141,000, and will be offered as an alternate to asphalt shingles for Selectmen to consider.
The committee also added more parking to its plans, increasing the number of spaces at Hildreth House from 22 to roughly 32. Town Hall will get additional parking as well.
Scrutiny of plans lowers costs
In recent weeks, the building committee has managed to wring an additional $400,000 from the estimated construction subtotal for Town Hall. The construction budget for that building is now estimated at $2,805,969, down from a previous estimate of $3,244,830. These numbers do not, however, include other construction-related costs, including furniture, professional services, assorted fees and expenses, contingencies for delays and overruns, and the cost of temporarily relocating town employees. The Press was unable to obtain estimates for these additional costs in time for publication. But the committee does have a final number in mind.
“If [the total project budget for Town Hall] has a three in front of it instead of a four [i.e., a $3.9 million price tag versus $4 million], that would be a good thing,” said committee member Lou Russo last week, to murmurs of agreement from other committee members.
“A two instead of a three for construction, and a three instead of a four for the total,” agreed Marie Sobalvarro, liaison to the committee, Chair of the Selectmen.
Now what?
If the Selectmen approve the report and recommendations of the building committee Thursday, then it will be time to prepare an article for Town Meeting that names a price for the project and asks permission to borrow that amount. Then, at a meeting later this month, Selectmen must vote to add the article to the Town Meeting warrant and to place the request for money on the ballot for town elections. Finally Selectmen, as well as the Finance Committee, must decide whether to support the article or not.
And what about Hildreth House?
“We’ll report on what it looks like, and what its cost is estimated to be, but take no action,” said building committee co-chair Pete Jackson.
In other words, the schematic designs for the building will be shelved for a few months or more, to give supporters time to gather the private donations they will need to pay for its new addition, per the agreement reached with Selectmen last year. Depending on how rapidly such funds are collected, the Selectmen can either call a Special Town Meeting later this year or wait for an upcoming Annual Town Meeting to request money for that portion of the project.
In the meantime, the building committee will swing into campaign mode throughout the next the few weeks to make sure that stakeholders throughout town understand its plans. On the committee’s schedule is an appearance at a League of Women Voters forum and a presentation to the Council on Aging.
