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Minutes 12/16/2016
December 16th, 2016
Town of Carroll Building Committee Meeting Minutes
December 16, 2016 @ 9:00 a.m.
Carroll Town Hall
Members present: John Gardiner, Greg Hogan, Brad Houston, Evan Karpf, Bonnie Moroney, Jeremy Oleson, David Scalley, and Imre Szauter
The meeting began at 9:10 a.m. and was recorded.
Attendees stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
A draft agenda was distributed and a sign-in sheet was routed around.
Attendees introduced themselves.
Bonnie made a motion, seconded by Jeremy, to approve the minutes of the Nov. 18 meeting as written. The vote was unanimous.
Bonnie made a motion, seconded by Jeremy, to approve the minutes of the Dec. 6 meeting as written. The vote was unanimous.
Attendees discussed the Dec. 6 meeting attended by Christopher Carley of C. N. Carley Associates, Architects and Planners. Mr. Carley was the architect who designed the Franconia Public Safety Building. Bonnie stated that Mr. Carley provided good information about the building’s design. During the meeting, Tadd obtained a copy of the as-built drawing, allowing Mr. Carley to comment on other aspects of the design. Greg stated that he felt the town wouldn’t save significantly on the cost by starting with the Franconia plan. David stated that in his experience, other firms may be able to provide planning, preliminary engineering and consulting services at a lower cost.
John asked what town functions the Building Committee was considering for inclusion in its proposal. Imre stated that the committee placed the Franconia design (police and fire departments) on the table for discussion, reasoning that adding the town’s administrative services spaces might be less costly than starting from scratch.
Attendees discussed the differences between the Franconia building site and our land, reasoning that our sloped site might make a multi-level facility a better choice. John asked about roadway access to our proposed site; Jeremy suggested that a straight driveway to US Route 302 might provide the needed access. When John mentioned New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NH DOT) access road restrictions when the land was purchased, David stated that as long as the town gives up one access point on School Street in exchange for a new access point to US 302, this should not be a problem. Additional changes to School Street might be needed to restrict cross traffic conflicting with emergency equipment.
Greg mentioned road and parking lot maintenance needs and costs (particularly during the winter season) would be reduced by having police, fire and administrative services in one building with one common driveway. Currently, the Public Works Department has to plow and sand three separate building driveways and parking lots.
Brad stated that he came away from the Dec. 6 meeting believing the town would be better served by planning a new facility from scratch, as our sloped site and the challenges of effectively adding our administrative offices to the Franconia design would be significant. He stated we should take the best of what we saw in the Franconia design for inclusion into ours.
Imre stated that he drafted a follow-up document for submission to Mr. Carley, based on discussions with Jeremy, John Trammell, Tadd, Becki, Maryclare and Kelly. Its purpose was to highlight their thoughts on the Franconia facility and outline the Town of Carroll’s current and future needs. He will deliver an electronic copy to all attendees for review and comment following the meeting. The goal is to finalize and send the document to Mr. Carley during the week of Dec. 19.
Attendees discussed how a multi-purpose meeting room in any new facility might address the needs of the town. Inclusion of most official functions, such as public meetings held by the Select Board, the Planning Board and the Board of Zoning Appeals; town deliberative session; all voting and training activities; and activation as the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the event of a natural or human-caused emergency, might justify providing an appropriately-sized area within a new facility.
Bonnie reviewed the history of recent warrant articles that proposed covering the cost of planning, preliminary engineering and consulting services for new government facilities. She verbally provided a draft version (without a dollar amount) for inclusion in the 2017 warrant:
“To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $___________________ (spelled out amount) for concept drawings and outline specifications for Town Offices, Police, and Fire Station, suitable for pricing by a registered Architectural Firm, including a not-to-exceed maximum guaranteed price, and to fund this appropriation by authorizing the withdrawal of that amount from the Land and Buildings Capital Reserve Fund. No money to be raised from new taxation.”
Jeremy asked if our proposed building site should be specified in the warrant article. Following discussion on this point, attendees agreed to keep the warrant article as generic as possible and provide site-specific information during public information sessions held prior to the March vote.
Attendees discussed other functions that might have an impact on a new town facility. John provided some background on what the town had considered about ten years ago with regard to a shared facility for the town library, the Historical Society and the information booth. A warrant article for about $30,000 authorized the purchase of about five acres of state property at the top of the hill. At the time, a proposal was made for the acquisition and restoration of one of the original town halls (circa 1830 and current in private hands). John outlined other options for housing the library and Historical Society.
John stated that a community meeting space should be considered, for use by the library, the Historical Society and others if our proposal included the closing of the current Town Hall. He suggested that developing both short- and long-term plans (2-, 5-, 10- and 15-year plans) would help the town better manage budgets and give residents (voters) a better understanding of what to expect. John felt the original model of New England community always included a space for gatherings of its residents to socialize and learn from one another.
Preservation of town records was discussed. John mentioned that many records were destroyed in the late 1800s when the previous Town Hall burned down. An evaluation is needed of all records currently stored in the Town Hall basement and on the second floor to determine what should be kept from a legal and/or historical perspective and what should be destroyed.
Bonnie mentioned that removal of the gymnasium portion of Town Hall had been discussed as a cost-saving measure. David cautioned that any potential savings would have to be tempered by the expenses incurred for rerouting/capping electrical, plumbing and heating services to that portion of the building.
The number of citizens who would attend town functions held in a multi-purpose meeting room is difficult to predict, as the trend seems to be less, not more, participation in governmental activities. It may be that only when controversial issues arise or emergencies mandate cramming many people into a small enclosed area does it justify building to the worst-case scenario.
Attendees discussed methods for communicating with the town’s residents and how critical an informed public is to passage of any warrant article.
Imre mentioned that inclusion of additional information on an EOC and the needs of the Emergency Management Director should be considered and included in the summation document for Mr. Carley. John agreed to provide suggestions for the document.
Attendees were polled for any other discussion items. David reminded attendees of the January 10, 2017 deadline for submission of any warrant articles. He also mentioned his research to address fire- and life-safety issues in Town Hall. David stated he would bring information to the Dec. 19 Select Board meeting for discussion as closing of the gymnasium portion of Town Hall is on the agenda.
Evan asked about the plans of the Building Committee regarding police, fire and administrative services. Bonnie explained the committee was moving toward proposing one complex to house the police and fire departments and the town’s administrative functions. Evan mentioned previous proposals and why he felt they failed. He suggested that replacing current facilities one-at-a-time, starting with the police station, might result in acceptance by the voters. The plan should include the ability to interconnect each department/function by expansion on existing land owned by the town.
Evan suggested holding periodic town meetings (i.e., every six months) to keep the public informed of current expenses and future plans. Jeremey stated that he hopes the information we are able to provide the public (particularly the costs to update, operate, and maintain existing facilities) brings voters around to thinking more about the future of the town instead of focusing on the past. His concern was that building in phases would require separate warrant articles and could put the town at risk during those periods while spending on older facilities.
The next Building Committee meeting is scheduled for Friday, December 30 at 9:00 a.m. in Town Hall.
With no other business to discuss, attendees voted to adjourn the meeting at 10:20 a.m.
Minutes prepared by Imre Szauter.