SEL20071113

APPROVED

TOWN OF PELHAM

BOARD OF SE= LECTMEN MEETING

MINUTES

November 13,= 2007

APPROVED – November 20= , 2007

The B= oard conducted a non-public session commencing at 6:00pm

CALL = TO ORDER

PLEDG= E OF ALLEGIANCE

PRESENT:

Mr. Victor Danevich, Mr= . Harold Lynde, Mr. William McDevitt, Mr. Robert Haverty,

Mr. Douglas Viger, Town Administrator Tom Gaydos

Also present:

ABSENT:

Members of the press and general public.

None

PRESENTATION

Fire Station Project Team – Proposed New Central Fire Station

Mr. Gaydos said a couple = years ago the project team started on the path of designing a fire station and co= ming up with accurate cost estimates. He said it took a couple years to get through the process and ended up with a product that was rejected by the voters which put the process back at the ‘drawing board’. = Mr. Gaydos said this time they decided to use a different approach; one that hadn’t been used in Town, but had been proven successful in other locations. The process involv= ed hiring an Owner’s Representative to represent the Town in complex mat= ters of proceeding through a construction project, hiring a highly qualified architect and also hiring a construction manager. He said with everyone starting at = the same time the plan was developed at the same with feedback coming in from t= he different sources. He said wh= en items were bid out they would be available to the public. Mr. Gaydos said what they ha= d come up with was a smaller, more efficient fire station located on the Mills Property.

Mr. Gaydos then introduce= d Mr. David Mermelstein of Trident Properties Group (Owner’s Representative), Mr. Kelley Davis Sumner Davis Architects and Mr. Tony Spagnuolo, Mr. J= ohn Reil and Mr. Eric Hastings of Eckman Construction.

Mr. David Mermelstein beg= an by explaining that they went through a process of qualifying and selecting an architect by sending an RFQ out to firms that develop public safety buildings. He said as the Owner’s Manager, they work as an extension of the community working f= rom conception through the entire construction process. He said they were working to deliv= er the most cost effective building that they could understanding the balance betw= een function, quality , schedule and cost. =

Mr. Kelley Davis discusse= d the site and location for the proposed building. He then reviewed the building layout. He also showed artist renditions of the proposed building.

Mr. Danevich asked for an explanation of traffic circulation and access. Mr. Davis showed how access to the building could be obtained. H= e said they could make it as easily accessible as possible and discussed possible options to making bi-direction traffic.&nb= sp; Mr. Danevich said the building was more visually appealing than the building presented last year.

Mr. McDevitt asked for fu= rther comment regarding the number bays versus the current equipment and the numb= er of bays for future expansion. He also wanted to know how much accommodation was on the second floor for exis= ting staff and how much space would there be for future staff. Mr. Davis said they tried to put i= n between 12%-18% expansion space in each of the areas. Mr. McDevitt wanted to know how mu= ch space was left over if all the existing equipment was placed in the bays. Mr. Davis said there would be 12%-= 18% additional space. Mr. McDevitt asked if a bay would remain empty. Mr. Davis said it could if they packed everything, but he didn’= ;t believe the station would be used that way.

Fire Chief Michael Walker= said they measured each piece of apparatus and took the standard measurements for room around each. He said onl= y two bays would be drive-thru which would help save money on the exhaust system. He said 12%-15% meant= that there would be approximately 6ft.-7ft. side-to-side between apparatus.

Mr. Lynde asked how many = bays would be vacant when all the equipment was in the station. Chief Walker said there would be no vacant bays. He said some wou= ld be packed the others would have a little bit of room between them. There was a brief explanation of w= hat equipment the Town currently had. Chief Walker said in the future if they decided to purchase addition= al equipment they would discuss where they would house the other auxiliary equipment.

Mr. Viger asked if there = was an actual square footage amount that would be left over. Mr. Davis discussed the size of the apparatus in comparison to the bays and said there was a little room for growth; they were not trying to over build. Mr. Viger wanted to know what the = future plan was for the station. Mr.= Davis said he tried to plan the station so it would have some ‘elbow room’ in it. He said he= could take a diagram and place the vehicles on it to show what room would remain.

Mr. McDevitt discussed the proposed building and wanted to know if the contemplation for expansion was= via substations. Chief Walker sai= d it would depend on what caused the Town to grow and what the need was for that area of Town. He said the pro= posed station would house everything they needed. If a substation were built it may require additional apparatus or a shifting based on their needs.

Mr. Lynde asked how many = bays were on the plan submitted to the voters (in March, 2007). Chief Walker said it was the same = number of bays but the maintenance bay (approx. 1000SF) was eliminated and the back was brought up to match the outline of the building. He said it was smaller than last year’s proposal. Mr. Ly= nde asked if all the bays could be used with the current equipment. Chief Walker said that was correct= . Mr. Lynde asked if they still plan= ned on trying to perform maintenance in one of the bays. He saw a value/cost savings in doi= ng so. Chief Walker said they wo= uld do maintenance as they had been but with the new building they would be able to plan it out better. Mr. Lynde= saw that there was a mezzanine area and open space and wanted to know if it ser= ved a purpose. Mr. Davis said the= y were building into the roof (the attic eaves) and would not have legal head room. He said it didn’t= have to be open space, it could be made into a flat ceiling. He said the dormers had been opene= d up to get the space for the sleeping quarters. Mr. Lynde said to come up with the previous design a review had been done for the station needs and questioned= if any functional rooms had been done away with to get to the current proposal= . Mr. Davis didn’t know of doi= ng so. He said started from the drawing board to bring the square footage down and remain efficient. He said they had built a lot of fi= re stations in the last five years and the proposal had all the required spaces that would be needed. Mr. Lyn= de wanted to know if the station would be sufficient for the next twenty or so years. Mr. Davis said it woul= d go way beyond that. Mr. Lynde sa= id it was important when putting the amount of money into the building that they don’t come back needing more. Mr. Davis said that was part of the programming; they knew they want= ed a little ‘elbow room’ so the building would go the distance.

Mr. Haverty said the poin= t should be made that they didn’t take last year’s plan and re-do it. He said they did a very detailed s= pace needs analysis and came up with what they needed on a functional perspective.

Mr. Viger asked if the de= ed restrictions of the land were adhered to.&= nbsp; Mr. Davis said the deed addressed a building it didn’t address= driveways. He discussed the items that had be= en reviewed by the engineers.

Mr. Gaydos discussed in s= ummary the process they did to select the architect and asked Mr. Davis to talk ab= out the recent work they had done. Mr. Davis discussed Sumner Davis’ work over the past few years which incl= uded fire stations and police stations. <= /span>

Mr. Viger asked what the = square footage was for the building. Mr. Davis said it was approximately 20,800SF; the downstairs was approx. 7000SF, the upstairs was approx. 5000SF and the apparatus bay was approx. 8500SF. He said the building was slab on g= rade and easily handicapped accessible. <= /span>

Mr. McDevitt said the cur= rent fire station was supported by a backup generator and questioned what provis= ions were made to back up the proposed in the event of a loss of power. Mr. Davis said they specified a 15= 0KW generator. Mr. McDevitt asked= if the existing generator was transportable.&= nbsp; Mr. Davis said it was too small for the proposed station. He said it was approximately 75KW.= Mr. McDevitt said if additional ba= ys were needed it appeared that it would be easy enough to expand out back. He asked if there was any physical restriction in the building that would prohibit that type of expansion. Mr. Davis said they oriented the building to be able to add an additional two or four bays as they were needed. It was noted by Mr. Spagnuolo that to expand front to back would be structurally easy to do bec= ause the walls were not load bearing walls.&nbs= p;

Mr. Tony Spagnuolo provid= ed information on Eckman Construction and said during the past twenty years th= ey had done predominately construction management. He discussed the type of work they= had done in recent years and noted that they had a reputation for being on time= and under budget. Mr. Spagnuolo s= aid since the time they were selected approximately one month ago they had had = numerous meetings with Mr. Davis. He s= aid the schematic drawings had been done and explained there was a team of four estimators in their office. H= e said after having meetings to understand specifically what was involved, they had done a very detailed estimate of the project. He said a twenty-one page estimate= had been done to make sure everything was covered, and nothing covered more than once. Mr. Spagnuolo said in a= ddition to coming up with the estimate, they had made numerous suggestions on items that could be changed to try and create better economy and help to reduce t= he cost as much as possible. He summarized the costs that were submitted.&= nbsp;

Mr. Lynde asked if they u= sed a pre-approval process. Mr. Spa= gnuolo said they had a large sub-contractor list and could go through a pre-qualification process if the Town wanted. He said once they got the numbers = from the people they would have a lot of discussion with the Town. Mr. Lynde said the price was significantly less than the number that went in front of voters. He wanted to know what they did to= get to the proposed number. Mr. S= pagnuolo said market conditions were better now and the square footage was smaller.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He said their pricing is less expe= nsive than other contractors. He sa= id he didn’t study in great detail where the pricing was for the other building.

Mr. McDevitt asked if the building was masonry. Mr. Spa= gnuolo said the apparatus bays were all masonry.&= nbsp; The administrative side of the building was designed as a wood frame= . Mr. McDevitt asked what the siding material was. Mr. Spagnuolo s= aid it was a siding that held paint very well with a manufacturer guaranty of approximately twenty years. M= r. McDevitt asked what type of heating system was proposed. Mr. Spagnuolo explained how the he= at/air and duct work was done. At th= is point it was gas. Mr. Gaydos = said that could change. Mr. McDevi= tt questioned what some of the items under Owner Expenses were. Mr. Spagnuolo discussed those items.

Mr. Viger wanted to know = how the determination was made to use certain manufacturers. Mr. Spagnuolo said the specificati= ons would be put together by the architect.&nb= sp; They would encourage that they put together two or three manufacture= rs of equal quality to get competitive pricing.

Mr. Haverty said because = he was the Selectmen Representative to the project his questions had all been answered. He believed that th= e team (Trident, Eckman, Sumner Davis) had assembled a well designed and researched plan that had real costs. He intended on supporting the plan.

Mr. Danevich said the war= rant article would request to raise and appropriate $4.8 million. It was noted that $527,000 would be applied against impact fees the bonding requirement would be $4.273 million over a to be specified amount of time.&nbs= p;

PUBLI= C INPUT

Mr. Richard Anderson of <= st1:Street w:st=3D"on">Bush Hill Road, asked if any consideration had been given to calling the building a public safety building instead of a fire department. He said it was more sophisticated = and covered more areas. The Selec= tmen said they would discuss the suggestion further.

Mr. Gaydos believed the S= electmen reviewed the wording for the warrant article that was currently called Arti= cle K. He read the draft aloud wh= ich in summary was to request to raise and appropriate the sum of $4,273,000 for t= he purpose of erecting a fire station. The Selectmen discussed what length the bond term should be. Mr. Gaydos was asked to provide pr= ojections for ten, fifteen and twenty year projections for cost comparisons.

Mr. Gaydos again read alo= ud the proposed warrant article. He = asked if the Selectmen wanted the amount to be combined with the impact fees. The Selectmen decided to keep the wording as it was written and read aloud.

MOTION:<= o:p>

(Haverty/Lynde) To accept the warrant article (Artic= le K).

ROLL CALL V= OTE:

Mr. Danevich-Yes; Mr. Ly= nde-Yes; Mr. McDevitt-Yes; Mr. Haverty-Yes; Mr. Viger-Yes (5-0-0) The motion carri= ed.

Mr. Danevich said he woul= d like the information regarding the fire station to be forwarded to him in electr= onic format so it could be included on the Town website.

Mr. Gaydos had some amend= ments to warrant articles for the Selectmen to discuss. He said they had done recalculatio= ns and found some errors in some of the numbers.&= nbsp;

Article H – To hire= and equip a new Police Officer – the number was amended from $45,651 to n= ow read $47,063

MOTION:<= o:p>

(Viger/Haverty) To accept Article H as amended.

VOTE:

(4-0-1) The motion carri= ed. Mr. McDevitt abstained.

Mr. Gaydos said he was go= ing to hold Article N and not make a presentation.

Article N – To rais= e and appropriate $220,000 to winterize the main lodge at Veteran’s Memorial Park. The Selectmen said they= took action and had a vote (at the last meeting) which carried 4-0. Mr. Gaydos would go ahead wit= h the article.

Mr. Gaydos said Article R= - AFSCME Police Union contract had not been ratified to date but expected it would be. He said he would no= t be bringing it to the Budget Committee at this point.

Mr. Gaydos said Article S= - AFSCME Public Works contract had an error in the formulas and would amend the numbers as follows: first year-$81,723; second year -$ 83,454; third year $83,488.

MOTION:<= o:p>

(Viger/Haverty) To accept Article S – AFSCME P= ublic Works contract as amended.

VOTE:

(4-0-1) The motion carri= ed. Mr. McDevitt abstained.

Mr. Gaydos said the Selec= tmen had deferred on Article= AB - Fire Station command vehicle beca= use it had not been determined if it was in or out of the budget. He said Article AC - to raise and appropriate $4744 for a part-time Secretarial position at the Fire Departme= nt had been amended to be $5139.

MOTION:<= o:p>

(Lynde/Haverty) To accept Article AC – to rais= e and appropriate $5139, as amended.

VOTE:

(4-0-1) The motion carri= ed. Mr. McDevitt abstained.

Mr. Gaydos confirmed with= the Selectmen that they were deferring action on the Deputy Fire Chief. Mr. Danevich said that was correct= .

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION:<= o:p>

(Lynde/Haverty) To adjourn the meeting.

VOTE:

(5-0-0) The motion carri= ed.

The meeting was adjourne= d at approximately 8:12 pm.

&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Respectfully submitted,

&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Charity A. L. Willis

&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Recording Secretary