The tension evident in the faces of the four members of the Board of Selectmen at the start of last week’s Special Town Meeting melted away as voters passed a motion authorizing them to move forward with plans to repair, restore, and renovate Town Hall. While the vote gave the lumbering project a needed push forward, and the selectmen expressed confidence that the work will be completed within the budget, voters didn’t get much of a presentation or a decision on what the building will be used for once renovated. This week the Press takes a closer look at what the town and selectmen got and didn’t get at STM.
The selectmen got a vote to proceed with the Town Hall project, as specified in Plan 1B.
The plan, as described by the selectmen, will give the town a structurally sound, historically accurate, and handicapped accessible Town Hall. Many of the recommendations of John Holland’s envelope analysis report will be followed, including replacing all of the siding, removing interior walls to spray in foam insulation, and adding a vapor barrier in the crawl space. The selectmen are hoping that the project will go out to bid this winter, and will begin in the spring of 2015. They estimate the time to completion to be 12 to 18 months.
Voters got a project budget and heard the selectmen say it would be met.
With $3.6 million to work with, the current estimated $2.454 million for construction leaves what the selectmen believe will be more than enough money to cover soft costs. When Chris Ashley of Woodside Road asked about the board’s level of confidence in the numbers, Selectman Leo Blair responded that their confidence was very high based on the increased contingency (now 16.5 percent), “a lot of knowns that were unknowns,” and a significant reserve, which the board estimates will be in the neighborhood of $450,000.
Voters got a confusing handout…
Inconsistencies, crossed out items, and unclear labeling made it difficult for readers to understand the documents produced by LLB Architects. At one point, LLB’s Drayton Fair explained that some of these were working documents, used over the course of the past few months at various meetings with the selectmen . BOS Chair Stu Sklar acknowledged that the handouts “could have been prettier,” but he added that decisions were still being made up to two days before the meeting, leaving little time to put together clearer documents.
… and not much of a presentation …
While the board had originally wanted to hold public outreach meetings to talk up Plan 1B before asking voters to authorize moving ahead, those meetings never materialized. The board finished its report and posted it, along with design drawings and cost estimates from LLB Architects, on the town website just two days before STM, leaving even residents who actually knew of those postings little time to digest the content. The report, drawings, and cost estimates comprised a seven-page handout available to voters at STM. Before the selectmen began their verbal report, voters were given about 30 seconds to peruse the handout. As papers rustled, the presentation began. But Selectwoman Lucy Wallace and Fair spoke for less than four minutes, devoting only one of those minutes to a very high level overview of Plan 1B. Wallace then opened the floor to questions, where details of the plan slowly came to light. About 40 minutes later, Blair finally provided a verbal description of what was in the plan. Near the end of the night, Steve Finnegan of Oak Hill Road said, “I’ve never been to a Town Meeting where we’ve had such a complex article with such little background. I think it’s a real disservice.”
… and there were no printed copies of the selectmen’s Article 4 motion.
The board agreed to the language for their motion on Article 4 at their October 27 meeting, where they also agreed to the language in their report. The three-part motion contained substantive additions to the original one-part warrant article, including a specification that the project conform to Plan 1B, and an 18-month time limit for the relocation of town offices (see “Article 4 motion” sidebar). A printed copy of the board’s report was in their STM handout, but the motion was not. After a vote was taken on one section of the motion, an audience member was heard to say “I don’t know what I just voted on.”
Voters did not get a decision on what the building will be used for …
As residents questioned whether the renovated Town Hall will accommodate all three identified program needs—community space, volunteer government space, and town office space—the selectmen reiterated their position that the upstairs space is flexible, and they intend to have conversations with the community during the construction period to find out what people want.
When asked what the costs might be to put offices on the second floor, Blair responded, “There would be additional costs associated with it, but I don’t think those costs would be staggering.” He added that the dialogue with the town “needs to occur, and it should occur quickly, so that we make informed decisions moving forward.”
… or a plan for the build-out of interior offices …
Since the usage of the building is still uncertain, counters and a demising wall (a wall that separates spaces) in the current meeting room are not part of the project. The selectmen assured voters that these could be added toward the end of the project fairly inexpensively, and in time for employees to move back into Town Hall, which they will unless townspeople decide that town offices should be elsewhere.
… or air conditioning on the second floor …
Various residents brought up the need for air conditioning on the second floor if permanent office space is to be located there. Drayton Fair said that the cost estimate for air conditioning on the second floor was $300,000, which wasn’t in the budget. Blair added that, at the suggestion of John Holland, chases up to the second floor would be installed in the walls during the project to accommodate HVAC or other upgrades in the future. Selectman Ron Ricci said that the electrical service could be upgraded to support air conditioning on the second floor by bringing in a new service, and that he didn’t see that as a major expense.
… but maybe a cupola and new windows
According to Blair, “We’re putting the entire $2.454 million out to bid, which includes the windows and cupola. If the bids come back higher than the $2.454 million, plus the amount of our reserves [approximately $450,000], the first item to be eliminated would be the cupola and the second would be the windows. This is very unlikely, in my opinion.”
The selectmen and architect didn’t save the stage.
The H.M.S. Pinafore has sailed. The existing stage, except for the proscenium (the decorative frame around the stage) and the apron (the part of the stage that extends out from the proscenium toward the audience) will be demolished to make way for two bathrooms and a conference room. The apron will be expanded, providing about a 10-foot platform for meetings, speakers, and open performances.
The selectmen won’t be signing a long term lease for office space on Ayer Road.
When the only respondent to an RFP for temporary office space was the owner of a building that required a lease minimum of five years, Blair and Town Administrator Tim Bragan were able to negotiate an 18-month opt out that came with a penalty of six months’ rent. At the BOS meeting two days before STM, Blair told the Press that the Ayer Road deal was “dead,” adding that “in the current climate, the likelihood that the town would approve a lease with those terms is extremely unlikely.” In addition, according to Town Counsel Mark Lanza, Massachusetts law prohibits financial penalty clauses in municipal contracts. Bragan will be looking elsewhere for temporary office space.
And lastly, only a few of Harvard’s registered voters took part in the decisions.
According to Town Clerk Janet Vellante, of the 3,960 people who are registered to vote in Harvard, only 211, a paltry 5 percent, signed in at STM. Last April’s Annual Town Meeting brought out 9 percent of voters, and last year’s Special Town Meeting asking for additional funds for Town Hall brought out 10 percent. The ballot that immediately followed that STM, asking again for additional funds for Town Hall, brought out 37 percent of voters.
Links to the selectmen’s report and the design and cost estimate documents used in the handout are available on the Town Hall Renovation page of the town website, accessible from the Board of Selectmen page.
