Letter to Capital Budget Committee re: Public Safety Building

In advance of the Capital Budget Committee Meeting on September 10th, Will Ashton drafted a letter to the Committee regarding 135 King Street and 62 Elm Street. Below is the beginning of the letter with the full letter linked for further review:

I’m writing in anticipation of the 9/10 meeting topic “Presentation and Update 135 King Street and 62 Elm Street.” Since the update in July when the new potential budget of $27 million was announced I have been trying to work with the Select Board, Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Police Chief, Fire Chief, and Emergency Management Director to stress the importance of limiting this scope to the original plan – even if we cannot get back to the original budget. Now that we own the building, we must get something approved at town meeting, but I don’t believe $27 million and 35,000 square feet of public safety will cut it.

I hope that the Capital Budget Committee will recommend the town redesign these plans and achieve cost savings to ensure we can complete this asset that the town has already invested $5 million into. I have two main points for the Committee to consider while evaluating the updates presented this week: (1) the original plan approved by capital budget and passed at town meeting, and (2) the size and scope required for our community.

Additionally, I have volunteered my efforts to assist in the descoping / value engineering / right-sizing process and have taken a first pass at what that looks like, which I’ve attached here for your review. I already have changes I would make to these markups because design and space planning are iterative processes – like removing the gym, making the training room not public, changing the elevator configuration, etc. I hope to be allowed to meet with the architect to further refine the scope.

Full letter for citizen review here.