AMESBURY — Mayor Thatcher Kezer is asking the Municipal Council to borrow $8 million for a new public works building on South Hunt Road.
The project is key to removing the public works department from the Lower Millyard to attract investors and developers to rejuvenate the 40-acre site.
"By getting the DPW out of the Lower Millyard, it will allow for new growth in the Lower Millyard," Kezer said yesterday.
Kezer said his expectation is that the amount of new growth in the Lower Millyard will "exceed the amount of debt service that we have to pay for the construction of the new building."
Kezer said the bond, if approved, would be paid back over 20 years.
The mayor and Joe Fahey, the town's director of community and economic development, will make a presentation on the Lower Millyard to the council at its Feb. 14 meeting.
A presentation on the DPW project will be held during the council's finance committee meeting on Feb. 28.
Municipal Council Vice President Bob Gilday said he expects "good deliberation and thoughts" about the project.
"The main thing is we have to get the DPW out of there, but at what cost?" Gilday said.
Gilday said councilors will have to decide whether the project is urgent or if they should put it off a year.
Municipal Councilor-at-large James Kelcourse, who expressed concern in the past about the price of the project, said he's more confident now after discussing the plans with DPW director Robert Desmarais.
"Do I think it could be built for less? Yes, I do. However, when building a municipal building, we have issues such as prevailing wage that we have to deal with that, of course, increase the cost," Kelcourse said.
"I'm concerned about the cost like everybody else," Kelcourse added. "We'll have a discussion and make a decision concerning the DPW and its cost going forward."
The bond authorization proposal indicates that the town is going for the lower-cost DPW plan.
In May, councilors heard two options for the proposed DPW. Option A with a full-size building and space for vehicle maintenance and a workshop area would have cost between $14 million and $16 million. Option B would replicate all the services at the current facility in the Lower Millyard at a cost of $8.3 million to $9.5 million.
"The goal was trying to achieve building a building sufficient enough that gets the DPW out of the Lower Millyard," Kezer said.
The proposal is to move the DPW to a portion of a 172-acre site on South Hunt Road owned by Waste Management. The property was considered the top choice from 26 properties across town.
The South Hunt Road site involves a proposed deal between the town and Waste Management to acquire about 6 acres in return for hooking up a sewer line to an area at the bottom of the capped landfill.
Currently, Waste Management has to take water runoff that collects at the bottom of the landfill and truck it out so it can be treated.
The new sewer line, projected to cost $180,000, would extend to the area of the runoff to allow the water to be treated by the town's wastewater treatment plant instead.
Kezer said that the town has the capacity to handle the amount of water that would be collected, as well as the capability to treat it. The town wouldn't buy any part of the property where the landfill once operated out of concern of future liability. It would, however, lease some landfill property that can be covered in asphalt and made into a parking lot. A final agreement between the town and Waste Management has not been signed yet.
