By Kim Siebert MacPhail
On Monday night, the Selectmen approved several contracts that allow work to go forward on the Job Lane House roof, the Fire Station’s ambulance bay door, the Great Road water main cleaning and lining project, and two final FY13 town vehicle purchases.
Job Lane Roof
An appropriation of $30,000 from the Community Preservation fund by Annual Town Meeting in 2012 for Job Lane House roof repair/ re-shingling has been partially expended for design expenses. Now that the construction part of the project has gone out to bid— and Eagle Point Builders’ quote of $27,521 has been identified as the lower of two viable bids—the remaining amount of the original appropriation is $600 shy of what is needed.
Facilities Director Richard Jones asked the Selectmen on Monday night to approve a supplemental appropriation of $2,600 from the Historic Properties Preservation portion of the Community Preservation Fund to cover the $600 shortfall plus $2,000 of contingencies funds in case additional work is identified on the building once the project begins.
“The project is for the south side roof which is the last portion of the roof [to be replaced],” said Jones. “In knowing the house and having done work there before, I’m just a little concerned about hidden damage. The last couple of times we’ve done work there, we’ve found insect damage, particularly within the wood in the walls, so I want have some extra money to deal with should it come up….[The expected life of the new shingled roof is] at least twenty years.”
Jones noted that if the $2000 in contingency funds was not needed, the amount would revert to the Community Preservation Fund.
Fire Station Ambulance Bay Door
Two separate bids were approved for the ambulance bay door project, one for masonry around the door opening and the other for the overhead sectional door installation. The masonry work contract was awarded to LaRovere Design/Build Corporation of Everett for the amount of $38,518. The steel door installation contract will be handled by American Garage and Door of Tewksbury for $5,448.
Although the original request for this project was $32,002 under the FY13 Capital budget, $15,000 in additional funds is needed, based on the lowest bidder’s quote. The Finance Committee has approved a reserve fund transfer for this amount so that the project can now move forward.
Great Road Water Main Cleaning and Relining
This project is the continuation of work that began last fall along Fletcher Road that addresses recurring instances of total coliform bacteria in Bedford’s water system. This season, the water mains from Shawsheen Road to Masardis Street will be replaced due to age and condition and the water mains from Shawsheen Road to Fletcher Road will be cleaned and relined. The work will be accomplished in phases and funded by Town Meeting appropriation that repays a $1M interest-free loan from the MWRA.
The project is scheduled to begin next week on the section between Shawsheen and the Stop and Shop plaza. Permits have been obtained from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to allow work on the state highway’s right of way.
“The actual replacement of water main between Pine and Masardis is much more disruptive [than the relining will be],” said DPW Director Rich Warrington. “[The replacement] part [of the project] will take place in the summer, after school is over.”
“MassDOT actually wanted us to do all the work at night but we told them it was out of the question for the amount of money we’d have to [spend] for something like that,” continued Warrington. “Plus, we explained to them that doing work at night doesn’t necessarily make you less disruptive because the section with the most disruptive work, between Pine and Masardis, is entirely residential. If we went out there at night, we would make a lot of people unhappy.”
“[For the relining part of the project,] we’re going to leap frog starting at Shawsheen Road, up the Great Road going west,” continued Warrington. “Any work that has to be done at intersections—such as Brooksbie Drive— where we could really disrupt traffic, will be done in the evenings.”
“It’s going to be a challenge having temporary water main everywhere,” Warrington added. “This is the biggest zone we’ve done to clean the lining—in other [smaller] areas we’ve simply replaced pipe without taking the old line out of service.”
Traffic diversion plans include re-channeling two-way traffic flow with cones daily between the hours of 7am and 3pm.
Two vehicles
The purchase contracts for one police traffic car ($24,660) and one 4 X 4 pick-up truck with plow attachment ($28,797) for the DPW Grounds Crew foreman were approved by Selectmen on Monday night. These two vehicles are the last to be purchased with FY13 Capital appropriations vehicles funds that totaled $250,000. Together, the vehicles represent $53,457 of an unexpended $60,221.27 remaining from last year’s Annual Town Meeting.
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