“Trailers for sale or rent,” said Town Administrator Tim Bragan Tuesday night to the Board of Selectmen, referencing the Roger Miller country classic, “King of the Road.”
Bragan and finance director Lorraine Leonard hit the road themselves last week to check out a double-wide trailer on the property of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. For the cost of moving the mobile building to Harvard, settling it in its new location, and hooking it up to utilities, Bragan said, the university would let the town have it.
A trailer—or trailers—is one of the three options the town is considering for a temporary relocation of its offices during the planned renovation of Town Hall. The others are at a site in Devens rented from MassDevelopment, in rental space at the Appleworks building on Ayer Road, and in the old library on Fairbank Street, a building the town is preparing to lease to the Center on the Common, a community cultural organization (see related story).
UMass purchased the trailer five years ago for $217,000 to use as classroom space for its school of education, Bragan said. The university subsequently built a new permanent building for that purpose and now wants the trailer off its property, he said. Bragan estimated the cost to move the trailer, in two pieces, from Amherst to Harvard, would be $7,000.
Bragan said he’s looking for someone qualified to install the trailer before reporting on what those costs would be.
At 72 feet long by 22.5 feet wide, Bragan said, the UMAss trailer would not be large enough to provide space for all the town’s employees. However, he said, “It has two handicapped bathrooms. It has an entryway. It has a ramp. It has stairs. It has everything.”
If the town chooses to accept the UMass trailer, Bragan said, it would have to look for another location for the remaining town employees, possibly in a second, smaller trailer. A suitable location would also have to be found for town records, he said.
“Files in this space would be extremely limited,” he said.
As for where to park the double-wide, Bragan said one site under consideration is the amphitheater area between the Harvard Public Library and the Bromfield School.
“It’s close to the septic system,” he said. “…There is electricity nearby.”
The school could keep the trailers for its own use after the town is done with them, Bragan said, but, he said, he didn’t know if the School Committee would want them.
Bragan said he and Leonard are going to continue researching the other options available to the town for temporary offices.
“Given the outcome of Special Town Meeting, does it make sense for us to go on site visits with you?” asked Selectman Marie Sobalvarro Tuesday night. “Considering we are considering options beyond just cost.”
It would be helpful, Bragan responded.
An article at Special Town Meeting on Aug. 29 originally asked to authorize Selectmen to lease, as lessee, temporary space for Town Hall offices while the building is renovated, provided “such lease is the lowest cost solution for the relocation of town offices.” However, an amendment from the floor changed “lowest cost solution” to “shall represent the best trade-off of cost and benefit, including both financial and non-financial costs and benefits.” That amendment passed by majority vote.
