HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-05-02 Permanent Building Committee Minuteso'� orq�
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Town of Reading
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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Permanent Building Committee
Date: 2016 -05 -02 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street Session:
Purpose: General Business Version:
Attendees: Members - Present:
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Greg Stepler, Nancy Twomey, John Coote, Brad Congdon, Patrick Tomkins,
Cemetery Trustees Chair Janet Baronian
Members - Not Present:
Michael Bean, David Traniello, Cemetery Trustee member Bill Brown
Others Present:
Town Manager Bob LeLacheur; FINCOM member Paula Perry; residents
from Batchelder Road Bob Farrar, Dave Hartford, Michelle Mini, Brian O'Mara
and Ron O'Keefe; and Patridge Road resident Joe Zucchero.
Minutes Respectfully Submitted
Topics of Discussion:
Mr. Stepler called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM.
Mr. LeLacheur gave a quick update of actions by Town Meeting during the previous week.
That included a well- received project update by Greg Stapler under Article 2 and approval of
$150,000 in the FY17 budget for continued work on the cemetery building project. The
assumption is that $50,000 or less of the $200,000 approved FY16 funds will be used in the
Owner's Project Manager (OPM) portion of the process, and therefore unused FY16 funds
will effectively be the source of the FY17 funding.
In response to the neighbors of the Wood End cemetery being present, Mr. Stapler and Mr.
LeLacheur gave a project review and update.
Mr. Hartford voiced a concern about the following topics: the location of a DPW building, the
available public information, the fact that an RFP has been limited to two locations, and
information about the total cost of the project. Mr. Farrar also expressed displeasure at the
lack of public involvement thus far.
Mr. Stepler mentioned the preliminary nature of the PBC's work thus far, and the plan to
hold formal neighborhood meetings according to a rough timeline for the project that
pointed to the fall of 2016. Mr. LeLacheur noted that aside from the Walker's Brook area,
nearly every commercial property has residential abutters, so the town has a good and well -
used process to communicate with neighborhoods for situations like this one. Mr. Tompkins
noted that all locations had an Impact on some neighborhood.
Mr. O'Mara wondered if there were other options, and Mr. LeLacheur said the town was
studying a central location for the cemetery division as well as the rest of Public Works, but
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no single site had been identified. He expressed the hope that one location might become
available before a final decision about construction for a cemetery building was made.
Mr. Zucchero noted that it would be a DPW building, and the residents present expressed
concern about noise, litter and impact on the neighborhood. Members of the PBC reminded
the neighbors that this was not a DPW yard, but a cemetery that demanded two things - a
building design that would fit the location, and behavior by all parties present that was
respectful for the purpose of the location.
Mr. Hartford asked about the choice of only two locations, and Mr. Stepler described the
evaluation process the PBC used to rank possible sites, noting that impact on abutters was a
key concern. He described the scope of the work that an OPM would conduct. After more
discussion about the possible Impact in terms of noise, loading and unloading of equipment
every morning, and daily operations the residents expressed a hope that the town could
locate the facility somewhere that would not impact abutters, such as a central location with
a DPW garage. They thanked the PBC for their time and explanation, and all but one left at
approximately 8:30pm.
Janet Baronian left the meeting at approximately 8:45pm.
Mr. Stepler then produced an electronic copy of a draft RFP /RFS for an OPM. The committee
reviewed in detail many of the sections of the document, with a lot of discussion. One
central theme was that this document would serve as a template for future work by the
committee.
The following milestones were established
May 161h - next PBC meeting to approve final draft RFP /RFS - therefore staff and legal
counsel had the intervening time to review and make changes; May 181h - add to the
central registry so that it could run the weeks of May 25, June 1 and June 8; Thursday June
2nd at fpm to hold an optional pre -bid meeting at Town Hall where staff and PBC members
would be present; RFP bids due Monday June 13d at 3pm; PBC meeting that night on June
131h to review bids.
On a motion by Tomkins seconded by Coote, the PBC adjourned at 9.40om by a
vote of 5 -0 -0.
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