AMESBURY — Members of the Finance Committee paved the way this week for approval of Mayor Thatcher Kezer's plan to spend $2.4 million on renovations and repairs to the fire and police department buildings.
Kezer came before the Finance Committee Tuesday night with three funding requests totaling $3 million: public safety building repairs, the initial costs for relocating the town's snow dump and Department of Public Works building, and repairs and possible expansion of the Lower Millyard parking deck. After a three-hour meeting that included many questions from the committee members, all were approved.
The adjacent public safety structures have each been in need of repointing for several years, and both have suffered outbreaks of toxic mold as a result of water seeping into the old brick siding, most recently in March during that month's heavy rainstorms. That has pushed the firefighters out of their second-floor space and into temporary trailers.
In a 7-2 vote, with members Derek Kimball and James Kelcourse voting against, the group will recommend to the Municipal Council, composed of the same nine members, that the monies be allocated for the project. If approved at the council's public hearing on Oct. 12, it will result in a repointing and modernization of the deteriorating, 1920s-era buildings that will cost at least $2.76 million.
Some councilors feared those costs were conservative and would only bring the building up to current standards without an eye to the future. Once the funds are approved, it could take more than a year to complete the project.
In pushing for the repairs, Kezer laid out for them the efforts made from four years ago to now to repoint the two safety buildings, after it was determined that water was seeping into the old bricks and causing damage to window sills and interior spaces.
Originally, the council appropriated $60,000 of a requested $80,000 to perform the work, which had to be rebid in order to limit the scope set by the council, he said. Then, in 2008, a new council appropriated $600,000 to complete the work, after it was discovered that heating and air conditioning systems and part of the fire station roof were in worse shape than originally thought.
Now, with $360,000 left of the original funds, the HVAC systems on both buildings having been replaced, damage from the heavy March rainstorms pushed the costs beyond 30 percent of the building's value, a threshold set by the Americans with Disabilities Act, meaning any repairs must include making buildings ADA compliant. That could mean having to retrofit the firehouse for an elevator to reach the second floor.
"It basically infiltrated the building significantly," Kezer said. "It soaked the living quarters, which subsequently created a mold problem. Servicemaster came in and gutted out the mold and disposed of that. But because of that damage, we did an assessment of what the repair cost would be to put the building back the way it was, and we determined it was very easily — with the ongoing work and cost of repairs — going to exceed 30 percent of the value of the building in order to do repairs."
With that, the project became significantly larger, increasing the expense more than four-fold.
"The scope of the project expanded to having to bring the entire fire station up to building code — electrical code, plumbing, all the space requirements, hallway widths, door widths, bathrooms," he said.
In the eyes of most councilors, the buildings need attention now, before another season or two of wet weather worsens the situation and ends up costing taxpayers more.
"I just don't think we can wait," said Councilor Bob Lavoie. "We've seen what can happen with waiting. We've been waiting for two years. The forces of nature can intervene at any time."
Responding to questions circulating since he unveiled the plan to councilors last week, Kezer said many iterations of a rebuilding plan had been considered before settling on this current design. For instance, since only firefighters and administrative offices occupy the second floor, is it really necessary to install an elevator?
But because administrative offices are on the second floor, the code requires the city provide access, he said.
The idea of putting the offices on the first floor was considered, too, especially in light of dispatchers being relocated to Middleton as part of a future regional dispatch arrangement, he said. But that meant the town only could apply for a waiver on the elevator issue, a waiver it may not be granted.
"When we ran the numbers for what it would cost to move them to the first floor, there isn't enough space on the first within the current footprint," Kezer said. "It cost more than it would to put in an elevator, and it ate up parking space that's scarce already. What we've developed is what we believe is the most cost-effective approach."
Committee members agreed the work was needed, but some questioned the way Kezer was proposing to fund it. Kezer proposed borrowing the money, adding another $216,000 of annual debt service to the city's bottom line. Kezer had asserted that the $216,000 figure would go down over the life of the 20-year bond, would not come due until 2013 and would prove a wash when measured against the city's falling debt ratio.
Kimball, the District 6 councilor, urged the administration to consider alternatives, proposing that the town's long list of properties could be a source of revenue.
"We talk all day about how it's going to be absorbed into the debt services over time," Kimball said. "It's going to decline. The rates are great, let's do it. But I'm also nervous about local aid cuts. I'm also nervous about real estate continuing to decline, which also will decline our tax revenues. Three to 5 percent of tax revenue could be 8 to 10 percent. We've got to be looking at surplusing properties to take care of some of the needs we have."
Kelcourse agreed.
"Let's unload these properties," he said of the unused and under-used municipal buildings. "Get rid of them. We're not in the business of owning properties."
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