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Town Hall rescue plan redrawn
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN — Worried that residents will balk at a Town Hall restoration price tag that is now estimated at $8.5 million to $9 million, selectmen last week voted to split the funding request between the exterior repairs and the interior renovation.
Selectmen voted unanimously to ask taxpayers to approve spending an estimated $2 million on repairs to the leaking exterior of the historic building, $44,000 for architect fees to manage Phase One and $320,000 to draw up plans and bid specifications for Phase Two, bringing the total voters will consider at the Nov. 17 Special Town Meeting to $2,364,000. That money would allow the exterior envelope of Town Hall to be completely repaired, stabilized and repainted and to continue the bidding process for Phase One. Voters would then be asked at the Annual Town Meeting in April to approve borrowing the rest of the money the project completion is estimated to cost, a figure architect Wendall Kalsow of McGinley, Kalsow and Associates last week put at $5.5 million to $6 million.
The true cost of both phases of the project won’t be known until contractor bids are received. Bids for Phase One are due about a week before Special Town Meeting begins next month. Final bids for Phase Two likely won’t be received until after the April Town Meeting, meaning the amount voters will be asked to approve will be an estimate.
The McGinley, Kalsow estimates do not, however, include the cost to move Town Hall staff into rented trailers for the duration of the project. That cost, $498,000, will be paid out of the $750,000 approved by voters two years ago to pay for the building repairs. Another $165,000 of that money was paid to McGinley, Kalsow to determine the extent of the repairs needed and prepare Phase One bid specifications, bringing the combination of actual and estimated costs of the project to $8.5 million to $9 million.
“We said we’d like to do it all at once but when we started, gas was $3 a gallon,” said Selectman Austin Knight.
“Based on what’s going on in Washington, D.C. and what may happen to the state income tax and given our shaky financial situation here, I don’t think we can do it all at once,” Selectman Mary-Jo Avellar said, adding, “I think people genuinely love this building, I think they’ll do what they have to in order to save this building, even if it takes a long time.”
“For me, it would be much more economical to do the project in one smooth flow,” said Board of Selectmen chair Michele Couture.
When asked if Town Hall employees could move back into the building if the Phase Two interior renovations were not done, Kalsow said the staff could safely resume their duties, albeit in a building with antiquated electrical and heating systems.
“Yes, they could move back in. Everything would be as it is right now. [But] there are a lot of physical issues with the building,” Kalsow said.
“Functional is relative,” Building Commissioner Russell Braun said, pointing out the boiler is over 60 years old, the electrical wiring is older, the fire suppression system is out of code and the space configuration in the building is “inadequate for departments to serve the public.”
Town Manager Sharon Lynn said residents need to understand that Phase Two is not “a gold-plated process we are going through.” Phase Two will not convert the interior of Town Hall into a modern, plush facility, she said, but will replace numerous failing systems that will eventually have to be replaced whether Phase Two is approved by voters or not. The only area that will be reconfigured is the basement, which contains the community development office, including the building and health departments. Asbestos and lead paint in the area have made it unsafe for workers, Lynn said. But the systems that run throughout the entire building are unsafe and could cause substantial damage if they fail, she said.
“The electrical really concerns me. It’s old wiring. And the fire suppression system needs to be updated. It doesn’t meet code. We are replacing systems that are failing,” she said about Phase Two.
However, if voters reject either or both funding requests, municipal government will continue, she said. If Phase One is voted down, Town Hall staff will remain in the rented trailers indefinitely because the building is unsafe, according to McGinley, Kalsow’s structural engineer. And if Phase One but not Phase Two is approved, staff will move back in once Phase One construction is completed, despite possible electrical and plumbing failures and an energy inefficiency that is “astronomical,” Lynn said.
“We won’t have the leaks. But the inside eventually — next year, however many years — is going to fail,” she said. “I’m not doom and gloom. I’m not. But eventually, you’ll have to fix it.”
psowers@provincetownbanner.com
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Over the Pamet & through the wood, to grandmother’s farm we go
Outer Cape Worship Services
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Oct 9th, 2008