Building Committee Notes June 15
Building Committee Meeting June 15, 2004
Submitted by Toni Richardson*
At its July 15 meeting the building committee took a step toward presenting the town with plans to deal with current needs for updating town buildings and to address future needs. The committee had two responses to its “Request for Proposals” to evaluate the town needs and building conditions and to present some alternative ways to address those needs.
Architects Shapiro and Harding of Cornwall Bridge presented their proposal at the meeting. They proposed to base their evaluation of needs on information collected by the committee according to a format they would provide. This would involve members of the committee interviewing employees and organizations. Once the information was collected, they would work with the committee to sift through the information and develop some ideas for how to address needs. They would review the buildings and identify building code and Disability Act requirements as well. To support their concept, they offered drawings that were done for the town of Redding as part of their town planning and drawings of a theater project in New York.
The second proposal was from Clifford Cooper of Litchfield. He responded to the RFP in a timely manner and proposed to complete the project within the $20,000 allocated. His primary renovation effort would be directed at the library and town hall, with other buildings considered for code upgrades. He would collect information from employees and town organizations by using a firm, called Plan-O-Metrics, to gather information, based on process that is efficient and objective. Once the information is gathered, it would be presented to the committee and they would work with the committee to design options that address the identified issues.
Both proposals identified the need to gather information at the outset. The difference was that Cooper would have the work done by the outside firm and Shapiro and Harding would have it done by the committee. Committee members agreed that using the outside firm gave an important degree of objectivity to the process.
Both responders are local, though Cooper seemed to have more information about projects in this area. Cooper’s proposal was just under the budget and Shapiro and Harding were just above it.
After much discussion which included hearing from Cindy Witlow about her positive experiences with Cooper, the committee unanimously voted to hire Cooper, subject to reference checks and agreement on the timeline.
The committee expects the process to begin with the gathering of information this summer. Jack Travers, First Selectman, will be contacting employees and town organizations to alert them to the need to get ready to provide information about their jobs, the hours they work or use facilities, their needs and anything they believe is important to this project.
The committee will meet again on July 27th at 7:30 pm to review progress. Once the information has been gathered, issues identified and alternatives outlined, the contractor will present his findings and ideas to the building committee and to the town. The Committee will consider information from that meeting and formulate a proposal for the town’s consideration. An opportunity to vote at referendum will be provided prior to any final action on the committee’s proposal.
* Toni Richardson co-chairs the Building Committee with Nancy Scofield
