WHITMAN – The proposed $17.8 million DPW garage project is headed to the Saturday, May 20 Town Election Ballot after more than 205 voters attending the Monday, May 1 Town Meeting voted to approve the debt exclusion article.
On a median home valued at $402,000, the 20-year debt exclusion would mean $285 on tax bills for the first year, down to $163 in the last year – or an average of $224 per year.
Former interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam stressed that, unlike a Proposition 2 ½ override which adds tax increases to the books permanently, a debt exclusion only excludes the funds needed to pay a debt and only appears on tax bills until a project is paid for.
Since a new DPW building plan was rejected by the voters in 2013, the Department of Public Works has been working on plans for a new building that are pared down but meet current needs as well as considering the future.
“What we’re trying to build is a new facility that just has basic needs – that our crews need, that our mechanics need, that our staff needs,” Kevin Cleary, chairman of the DPW Commission, to residents attending an informational meeting on Wednesday, April 26.
The feasibility process for the new building was started in 2008, Cleary noted. The approximately $1 million approved at Town Meeting last year paid for an owner’s project manager (OPM), as required by state law, and an architect.
He was joined by the architect and engineer of the proposed Department of Public Works’ new garage and administrative building for residents at the Town Hall Auditorium, and at home watching on Whitman-Hanson Community Access (WHCA) TV. They repeated some of the information during Town Meeting.
“As Mr. Cleary has pointed out, this has been dragging since ’08,” said Christopher Scrivens of 363 School St. “I’ve been fortunate enough that my commute to work now comes down Park Avenue and then Essex Street, and I get to see the park and the work [the DPW] did and the boulevard by Holden Pond, every day and I’m reminded about the work they’ve done, particularly in the last decade or so, to really improve our community. These guys have been patient – very, very patient and they deserve what they’re asking for.”
He and Architect-engineer Gregory Yanchenko also gave a brief presentation to Town Meeting before the article was voted on.
“We’re going to go through what we’re looking to build, and then take any questions,” Cleary said at the April 26 presentation, beginning with a five-minute video on the conditions of the buildings in need of replacing.
Clearly conceded that the main question people might have about the project is cost.
“What we will be asking for at Town Meeting is $17.8 million, with the town accountant calculating that it would represent an increase of about $250 per year, or $65 per quarter, on the taxes for the average home in Whitman.
If successful at Town Meeting, the project will go before the voters again as a ballot question on the May 20 Town Election.
Town Meeting appropriated about $1 million last year for design and hiring an owner project manger for the project, a position mandated by the state. A few years ago, another $50,000 or $60,000 appropriation for a soil study and site investigation of the site.
“It’s a large number,” he said explaining that the current committee has been working together for about a year, with about eight to nine months designing the most cost-effective facility that meets our needs and future needs.
One resident, seeking information on the quarterly tax rate also asked for a tax rate calculator on the town website for the length of the debt service. Cleary said the DPW has set up a website – dpw.com – to provide information, including on cost.
Beyond flaking paint, the video showed crumbing of the front operations (or green) building’s crumbling cinder block façade. Constructed before the sinking of the Titanic, the garage building is more than 110 years old and houses not only garage and maintenance space as well as storage and breakroom space for employees. It also holds the one working – if not exactly sanitary – bathroom for DPW crews.1960s fire.
The roof rafters show singe marks from a fire in the 1960s.
“Obviously, in looking at these videos, it’s in pretty tough shape,” he said. “We’ve done a good job of maintaining it to this point, but it’s in a bad state of disrepair.”
The building also lacks proper heat and ventilation and is not compliant with OSHA regulations. Crews have to work in these conditions for two or three shifts straight during snowstorms.
“It doesn’t have any proper facilities,” Cleary said. “It’s well-passed its life span.”
The metal-framed back building, constructed in the 1970s, is used as “cold storage” for equipment that, at best keeps the items sheltered from weather and provides space for two mechanics to work. While the bays do have heat, there is no ventilation, meaning the doors have to be left open while they are working in all weather – including winter.
“We’re going to reuse part of this,” he said of the foundation, but the garage doors that are now too small for modern heavy equipment. “We’re going to build a new structure on top of this.”
Yanchenko outlined what is being built and why.
“Over the decades, requirements for DPW buildings have changed, as well as codes,” Yanchenko said. “One of the challenges for DPWs today is vehicles are getting larger … as a result they’re more sophisticated. … But most important, as good as the equipment is, the critical things is the people who work there.”
Using the word “deplorable” for conditions employees must work around, he said there is really no other word for it. He described the plan as meeting the current needs or employees, anticipates future needs and life safety standards.
The plan removes the green building, which will be replaced by employee and visitor parking, moves the facility back to the footprint of the current rear building and adds a new administrative wing and provides new employs space and offices. The current administrative offices, to will be removed and replaced with paring in the new plan.
“One of the things we did is make the space as flexible as possible,” Yanchencko said.