by Kieron Kramer
Thursday night, March 10, was supposed to be a big moment for the Town of Berlin, when the Town Board would vote to proceed with the purchase of the Berlin Lumber property for use as a municipal center or not. But nothing happened. Board Member Richard von Schilgen was sick and absent from the meeting; Board Member Jim Saunders was also absent. This left Board Members Sheila Hewitt and Becky Giumarra and Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger to form a quorum. Hewitt and Giumarra decided that there should not be a vote at this meeting to accept the Laberge Group report, which would mean that the contingencies on the Berlin Lumber purchase have been met. Acceptance would have moved the purchase process forward, but Hewitt and Giumarra wanted the input and votes of the two missing Board members.
According to the contract with the sellers, they were to be notified on Monday, March 14, whether the contingencies in the contract had been met. Instead, the Board voted 3-0 in a roll call vote to authorize Town Attorney Don Tate to contact the attorney for the seller and request a month’s delay of the notification requirement. Theoretically, but unlikely according to Tate, the sellers could see the failure of timely notification as a breach of the contract terms and keep the $10,000 earnest money that the Town has deposited in escrow.
Jim Clark, of Laberge, presented the report to the Board Thursday, although according to Hewitt, the Board had received the report a couple of days earlier. Clark said Laberge was charged to assess the structural integrity of three of the five buildings on the Berlin Lumber property, to propose recommendations for potential future use of the buildings with cost estimates to bring the buildings into code for use and occupancy, including handicapped accessible entrances and bathrooms, and to provide estimates for future maintenance and energy costs for the three buildings.
The three buildings are the Residence, which would house the Town offices, structure B, which would house the Highway Department office and a large assembly room, and the Short Shed, which would serve to garage the Highway Department trucks. Laberge was also charged to do a Phase I environmental report.
In theory the Laberge Report, which cost the Town $9,525, was supposed to provide objective data that would answer the doubts that a certain segment of the Town and their representatives on the Town Board had about the purchase. In truth, the report answered very little definitively. Perhaps it was Clark’s presentation, which revealed a peculiar methodology when setting construction and maintenance costs, a reliance on visual inspection and some embarrassing inaccuracies and lack of conviction when answering a series of questions from the Board and audience members, that created the ambiguity. Some of the questions were intended to prove the point for, and some to make the case against, the purchase. Did no one tell Clark he was heading into a Berlin buzz saw?
Laberge’s general conclusion was that all the structures are in “remarkably good condition given their age.” Clark said that this was probably the “result of an active maintenance program by Berlin Lumber. There was no indication of last minute work being done for curb appeal.” The roof of the Residence, which has been a concern during the 18 month long debate, was inspected from the ground. The shingles seemed in good shape with no curling or cracks, and the interior spaces under the roof on the second floor, which will be used primarily for storage, showed no evidence of water staining, according to Clark. The left side of structure B, where the Highway Department office will be, “is in great condition.” Both structure B
and the Short Shed are pre-engineered steel structures with intact enclosure systems and concrete slabs that are in good shape and capable of bearing the loads expected. Clark mentioned that a new furnace had been installed in the Residence
Laberge “found very little on site that would cause environmental concerns.” However, Clark reported that there were ten underground storage tanks, seven of which have been “officially closed” with the DEC having records to verify this. Three tanks are also closed, but there is no official documentation about this so Laberge has FOIL’ed the DEC for records on them. They also found a closed floor drain, a kind of drywell, that has no records. Laberge suggested that soil testing be done in this area. This will require a Phase II environmental assessment which may cost around $6,500. The Board agreed that the soil testing should be done in order to protect the Town but decided not to vote to do this until the decision to move forward with the project is made.
When estimating the costs to renovate the three buildings, Laberge was “conservative,” according to Clark. That is, they highballed all the costs based on the perfectly reasonable idea that materials and construction costs are volatile. What is not reasonable is that they included thousands of dollars for the cost of permits and fees, which, of course, Berlin will not have to pay since they will have the inspections done in-house by Code Enforcement Officer Allan Yerton. Why include expense that a private party might accrue when you know it is a municipality doing the building, one might ask.
This methodology resulted in renovation estimates that are high, according to Jaeger, and therefore in two sets of figures, one developed by Sheila Hewitt showing that the project is too expensive and one developed by Jaeger showing that the project is affordable. The decision by the Board at the special meeting on October 20, 2010 was that the project could move forward if the costs for purchase and renovation are close to the $587,000 in the Capital Reserve Fund at that time. So, stripping the “soft expenses” and the permit fees Jaeger has $16,000 to renovate the Residence (Town Hall and offices) where Hewitt uses the Laberge figure of $22,066. Jaeger has the Short Shop renovations costing $26,250, and Hewitt has the Laberge figure of $31,250. The required work in the Short Shop, where the trucks will be garaged, includes a trench drain with an oil and water separator, the replacement of the large overhead
doors and a ventilation system to provide the required number of air exchanges per hour. The large fans will be installed at the gable end. The cost of renovating the community room will be between $90-100,000, but Jaeger thinks this can be put off until a later date. Unfortunately for this plan, the Residence has an occupancy capacity of only 25 with a few more able to sit in an alcove, so Town Board meetings will still have to be held in the current Town Hall for a while. When the community room is finished it will have a capacity of 135. Hewitt lists closing costs of $20,000 which she writes as “per RJ,” but Jaeger’s closing costs are $10,000 including title insurance. Hewitt’s figures result in an expenditure that is $90,000 more that the Capital Reserve Fund. Jaeger’s figures result in an expenditure that is $16,000 below the Capital Reserve Fund amount.
Jaeger also included in his calculation an additional revenue stream of $10,800 and $6,000 in savings. The savings would come from no longer having to rent garage space from Hoosick River Hardwoods. The revenue stream would come from renting the current Town Garage to Morse Heating for $400 per month and half of one of the buildings at Berlin Lumber to the County Highway Department to garage its trucks. When pressed by Giumarra, Jaeger said he had a commitment in writing from Morse Heating. Rensselaer County Deputy Engineer for Highway Operations Scott Gallerie had come to the Board meeting in October of 2010 and said that the County would rent space for $500 per month. Giumarra asked if Gallerie’s offer was in writing. “Is there a lease,” she asked. Jaeger told her that you can’t have a lease until you own the property. Gallerie is unlikely to back out if his figures show that he can save more money for the County by spending this money on the rental.
Jaeger also presented figures comparing utility costs from 2010 and 2011 with the Berlin Lumber facility in play. Laberge had included water costs in their maintenance figures, but there are drilled wells on the property which Laberge tested and found to be in good condition, the water not brackish or brown. Jaeger removed this expense. His figures, based on adjusted Laberge estimates, show a $20,880 expenditure for 2011 with Berlin Lumber. In 2010 the cost was, including the garage rental, $22,156. The acquisition, according to Jaeger would result in a $1,276 drop in utility expenses, and this is with the current Town Hall being maintained and used as an Historical Center. Other revenue streams from rentals, like renting space to the County to garage its disaster response vehicle, and savings, from shared services with the County, were mentioned in passing as possibilities for the future.
April Meeting Will Be Decisive
The April Town Board meeting appears to be the decisive one regarding the Berlin Lumber purchase. A vote will be taken at that time. It was wise to put off a vote at Thursday’s meeting since an issue of this magnitude needs every Board member’s commitment, and every Board member should take responsibility for his or her vote, the popularity of which might be judged by the election results in November. The Laberge report for all its expense still begs the question, “What do you believe is the future of Berlin, and is a new municipal center part of it?”
This theme arose in the public comment at the end of the meeting. Nick Homiak said, “This Town is in sad shape. The Town has become dormant. There is a lot of potential down there [at Berlin Lumber]. We need businesses coming into town, but the attitude you have will never change. The horse and buggy is dead.” Becky Giumarra wanted to go on record to say that she is for businesses moving into town. Sheila Hewitt also said this. But the question is what is the Board going to do about it? Allan Yerton said that he gets 50 calls a year from prospective businesses. He said the first question they ask is, “What kind of town is this that you have a little, rinky-dink town hall.” The second question is about the location and size of the commercial zone. Will the Board spend money to make Berlin attractive to businesses? Will up to date land use regulations be adopted? Cell phone towers were allowed, finally.
At the end of the meeting a number of inaccurate statements were made by Sheila Hewitt and others about the abortive attempt by S. M. Gallivan, LLC to purchase the Berlin Lumber property last summer and fall. This topic was covered at length in the July 30 and October 15, 2010, issues of the Eastwick Press, which may be accessed on the Eastwick website.
Chamber Of Commerce?
Rebekah Lamphere Hartman read a lengthy statement to the group preceded by the comment, “Whether or not the Town chooses to purchase Berlin Lumber I’m going to support it because it is our town. We have become too polarized. I would put in an enormous effort to make it work.” She then offered the following data: Cowee and Seagroatts used to provide more than 210 jobs to local residents. There were three cash markets, a florist, a dentist, a hardware store, a video store and a laundromat in town. BCS enrolled 1,200 students k-12. Now Seagroatts employs three people (themselves), and both configurations of Cowee employ 42 people. BCS has 900 students, 40% of which are living below the poverty level. She feels that “the businesses that are left should band together to encourage growth because this Town and most of the District is not moving forwards, and it is not moving backwards; it’s just not moving.” Hartman is proposing to form the Taconic Hills Chamber of Commerce. Anyone interested in the organization should contact Hartman at 658-0718 or email her at hartlanddesignsinc@gmail.com.
Youth Commission Budget Restored
The Youth Commission budget line was restored at this meeting through fund transfers and a major gift from the Hammersmiths. At last month’s meeting, Justice Joe Rechen asked the Board to transfer $1,000 from the Justices’ budget line to the Youth Commission line, and the Board did so. At this meeting Pam Gerstel asked the Board to transfer $1,300 from the Planning Board budget line to the Youth Commission, and the Board voted to do so. The Hammersmiths presented a $500 check to the Board for the Youth Commission as they said last month they would. Jaeger made a motion to transfer $300 from the contingency fund to the Youth Commission, and the Board voted 3-0 to do that, too. This restores the $3,100 that was cut from the Youth Commission in the final 2011 budget.
Get Ready For Some Glads
Don Calman announced that the gladioli bulbs for the spring planting have been ordered and that the Beautification Committee will meet on Thursday, March 17, to plan the color design and location and to set the planting dates. Fourteen new beds have been confirmed, and another bed is hoped for. Calman said that he hoped the people who picked up bulbs last fall will plant them about a week before Memorial Day to coincide with the blooming of the Town’s beds and, if near Route 22, as close to the road as they can so “passersby will see an ever increasing display of color as they pass through Berlin.”
Jaeger recounted the misery of the flooded Town Hall basement. After several pumpings out it was discovered that the sump pump valve was stuck, and it was finally restored to service. It was also determined that the side door frame needed to be reconstructed and raised since the water from the recent rains and the snow melt was running into the building underneath the threshhold. Justice Rechen agreed that some of the surplus from the $8,400 of Justice Fund grants could be used for this purpose.
Along these lines, Dave Theriault reported that he and Board Members Richard von Schilgen and Jim Saunders had chopped off the ice dam and salted the part of the Town Hall roof that was leaking into the hallway last month. The problem is that that area of the roof is under ventilated and under insulated, he said. He also said that the agreement between the Town and the Library should be updated to reflect the new funding level, and he took this opportunity to thank the Board for its support.
Tara Cinney-Fisher reported that the Comprehensive Plan Committee will review the draft of the plan, hold a public workshop on it and then present it to the Town Board.
Code Enforcement Officer Yerton said, “It looks like we might have some building going on this year.” He announced that the Building Permit application is available to be downloaded from the Town website (http://berlin-ny.us/) and that the State outdoor wood furnace regulations, requiring an 18 foot stack on all furnaces, is in effect.
Highway Superintendent Jim Winn “is fairly ill” said Jaeger, so there was no highway report or Water District #2 report. Jaeger said, “The guys have done an excellent job lately keeping the roads clear.” Ivan Wager is still away so there was no transfer station report or disaster plan report. Theriault reported no action by the ZBA, and there was no action by the Space Committee.
Other Announcements:
A rabies clinic is scheduled for April 21 in the Berlin Highway Garage. Also, Goodermote said that people who can’t afford their dogs are turning them in pretending they are strays so the Town will take care of placing them. This is also happening in Stephentown, he said. All claims of stray dogs will be investigated from now on, Goodermote added.
The Little Hoosic River Watershed Association will hold its annual meeting on March 29 at 7 pm at the Berlin Seventh Day Baptist Church.
The Board of Assessment Review (BAR) still needs another member.
According to Jaeger, the entire Board Workshop was spent in executive session discussing the contract with the Highway Department employees’ union.
Pam Gerstel reported that the Planning Board entered into informal discussions with a representative from Williams College regarding a windmill. In 2003 Williams had approached the Town about the possibility of constructing a temporary windmill for wind pattern research on their property on Berlin Mountain and had had the project rejected.