Vermont Standard
9/9/16
By Curt Peterson
Standard Correspondent
killington—The Shelburne Memorial Library has long been a jewel in killington’s crown. But over recent years ice dams have rapidly deteriorated the fairly new roof, and when re-shingling was considered design flaws were discovered, the correction of which brought the estimated cost to approximately $200,000.
At Tuesday night’s select board meeting, Library Trustee and Roof Committee member Diane Rosenblum announced more bad news regarding the roof – the only bid for the reroofing project came in at $44,000 more than the original estimate.
“Insulation issues are involved in most of the additional cost,” Rosenblum said. “The original estimate for insulation in December or January was $57,000. In the contract it is $99,000.”
The additional costs amount to 22 percent of the original project cost estimate.
Chet Hagenbarth, who also serves on the Library Roof Committee, said there are two major factors resulting in the insulation cost increase.
“First of all,” he said, “new code requirements mean we have to put in an ignition barrier. This will cost about $15,000.”
“Secondly, when the original estimate was created, 5 ½-inch, R38-rated insulation was acceptable for the project. Now the minimum we can use is 8-inch, R49-rated material. And for our coverage area that’s a cost of $11,000 per additional inch.”
He explained that roofers would not guarantee adequate protection against ice dams in the future unless the thicker, higher-rated insulation is used.
Rosenblum said there had been some question in the past about the quality of the original roof, installed by Rich Moore Construction, but they’ve discovered that Moore installed the roof correctly according to architectural specifications.
“The architect gave us plans for a roof not suited for northern climates,” Rosenblum said. “Rich Moore did not do anything wrong.”
Funding the cost overrun will be a challenge, Rosenblum said, but she feels it is doable.
“We are taking $8,700 out of our operating budget,” she said.
Most of the rest will come from cutting back on parts of the renovations
See LIBRARY ROOF - Page 4A
LIBRARY ROOF
From Page 3A project – items that were originally thought important, but which the Trustees feel they can defer, such as a plumbing upgrade, flooring work, and upgrading the HVAC system.
“These are things we can always do later if we still feel they are pertinent,” Rosenblum said.
Hagenbarth added that heat cost savings provided by the new roof and insulation should be close to $2,000 per year.
Resident Vito Rasenas asked how many bids were received, and if the $244,000 bid was the lowest.
Hagenbarth said there was only one bid received.
“I personally made six or seven calls to contractors I thought should be interested in bidding. We posted the proposal and advertised for bids, but this was the only one we got,” he said.
Select board chair Patty McGrath said in her experience it was always tough to get contractor bids when there’s a lot of building and construction work going on.
The board moved and passed approval for the library to move ahead on the project per the proposal presented by Rosenblum and Hagenbarth.
Vito Rasenas, representing the committee charged with finding a site for a proposed new killington fire house, reported that a location the committee had thought promising, across from Moon Ridge, had lost some of its glamour upon closer inspection.
Chet Hagenbarth explained that a stretch of wetlands on which nothing can be built separates two halves of the parcel, which is 2 ½ acres in total.
“There was a way we could place the proposed building on the land if we turned it sideways,” he said.
“But if we wanted to expand for an additional fire truck or to house an ambulance or a police vehicle, there would be no place on this site where it could be built.”
One attractive feature, they said, was the very reasonable asking price.
Rasenas said, “The site is feasible, but it is not ideal. We aren’t totally against it, but we would like to try to find something better.” He said it is difficult to find a suitable parcel at a reasonable price, but there are a few they want to consider before making a recommendation to the select board.
Town Manager Deborah Schwartz, continuing her crusade to collect delinquent real estate taxes, reported she has sent out letters to everyone who owes unpaid taxes and interest that are a year or more overdue.
“I advised them that they have to pay in full, or come to us to arrange a payment plan to get them paid off,” Schwartz said.
She has included notices to some taxpayers who have been making payments on a previously agreed plan, because their arrangements with Seth Webb, the former Town Manager, have expired and need to be rewritten.
Schwartz also announced that the $900,000 operating note due in September was paid off on Aug. 17, saving the town about $500 in interest.
A new credit card policy was approved by the board, requiring holders of town credit cards to provide receipts by the 20th of every month for reconciliation so the bills can be paid on time, thus avoiding late-payment penalties, interest and increased interest rates the town has incurred in the past due to incomplete records.
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