By Elizabeth Hacala
The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) reviewed the Town Hall Building System Replacement project at both its September 23 and October 21 meetings. The project will consist of upgrading the mechanical, electrical, engineering and plumbing in town hall for a total cost of $2.85M. The systems in the current town hall (formerly Center School) were last updated in 1988 when the building was transformed into town offices.
The Town Hall project is eligible for funding under the Community Preservation Act (CPA) because the building is a historic structure. The committee reviewed the current list of projects, bond payments, and anticipated future projects to determine what contribution would be appropriate from CPA funds. The committee concluded that funding 100 percent of the project through CPA funds and bonding would result in an unreasonably high debt/income ratio and would prevent the committee from considering most future project requests, including requests for Fawn Lake or Springs Brook Park. The committee voted at their September 23 meeting to recommend to Special Town Meeting that half of the project be funded through the CPA funds/bonding.
At the October 21 meeting the CPC affirmed its prior vote to recommend the expenditure of CPA funds to fund half of the town hall project. The committee voted that $71,612 of the CPA funds for the project would be taken from an unused CPA allocation for the town hall multi-purpose meeting room project (2012 Annual Town Meeting, Article 17). The balance of the CPA funds would be drawn from reserves and bonding.
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