Killington Public Safety Building prepares to open, budget shortfall discussed

 Mountain Times

OCTOBER 28, 2020

By Polly Mikula

Last week the new Killington Public Safety Building received its temporary dept. of fire safety certificate of occupancy, meaning the town’s fire, rescue and police departments could begin to move into their new headquarters, Town Manager Chet Hagenbarth explained.

The new building on Killington Road is just over a mile north of the current fire station. The new 14,000-square-foot structure houses the fire department, Search and Rescue team, and the Killington Police Dept.

The building features four bays for firetrucks in the front facing Killington Road and one in the rear for light rescue and police, with sufficient spacing. There is also a hose tower to drain fire hoses and store them properly after use, an efficient exhaust system, a toxic rinse room (to wash off fire retardant and other chemicals before entering the building), a men’s and a women’s locker room with showers, and a mezzanine floor with office space and storage.

In a separate section of the building, the police department has a “sally port” to allow secure gated entry for a police vehicle, a temporary holding cell, an interview/interrogation room with one-sided glass, office space and rooms for proper record storage.

The building also features a 900-square-foot community room that can seat 50-60 people (not considering current social distancing requirements) with a small kitchen attached and public bathrooms.

“It’s a beautiful building and all went as planned building-wise,” said Hagenbarth. “Then we ran into a few big obstacles.”

Over budget

The first of those obstacles was ledge, the second was the pandemic, and the third was water capacity, Hagenbarth explained. “None of which were in our control, but its still hard to not blame myself… I’ve never missed a budget in all the projects I’ve overseen,” he said.

Cumulatively, additional non-building related costs added up to $478,121.51, after the future sale of the existing firehouse (estimated as a $300,000 offset), Hagenbarth reported Tuesday, Oct. 27 at the Select Board meeting.

The town had included a 12% budgeted contingency, for normal overages, he explained but these were “unexpected outliers.”

The town borrowed $4,775,000 to finance the construction after voters approved the measure in March 2019. The 4-acre parcel was purchased separately the year prior for $525,000.

“Ledge costs were incurred outside the building footprint through to the 45,000 gallon storage tank and for drainage, which was required to be routed around the building to the stormwater treatment swale in front of the building,” Hagenbarth explained.

Additional ledge costs totaled $211,888.17.

The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to increased costs by delaying the project and pushing it into winter months and by increasing the costs of materials.

“Winter conditions costs were incurred because the stormwater permit as delayed from July 1-Sept. 3 causing a two month delay,” Hagenbarth explained. “Subsequently, the additional two-month delay caused by ledge removal caused the building to not be enclosed prior to the winter weather conditions setting in. Had either event not occurred, this cost would have been reduced to approximately $40,000 for a potential savings of over $120,000.”

The delay that pushed the project into winter conditions cost the town an additional $161,155.37, Hagenbarth reported. The costs directly associated with the Covid shutdown totaled $54,708.10, additionally. But pending state grants could help offset this cost a bit, Hagenbarth said.

Finally, water capacity fell short of state guidelines, requiring additional effort to meet code. “A potable water storage tank system was required by code to be calculated using 50% of the well’s capacity of 55 gallons per minute. The potable water storage system calculation must assume all water faucets etc are running and keeping the eye wash station continuing to function,” Hagenbarth explained.

A $50,369.87 potable water storage system had to be added to meet those requirements.

Hagenbarth and the Select Board will discuss possible measures to cover the $478,121.51 additional project cost in the coming weeks.  “We have options, I do not think we’ll be going back to the voters to ask for more money or have to increase taxes to cover this cost,” he said.

Board considers updates for school buildings

Vermont Standard

10/29/20
By Neil Allen
Standard Staff

On Monday, the Buildings & Ground Committee for the Windsor Central Unifi ed Union School District (WCUUSD) met to discuss potential solutions for the air quality and roof condition of the Woodstock Union High School/Middle School (WUHSMS) and energy savings at all of the districts schools with a presentation from Johnson Controls International (JCI).

School board member and committee chair Jim Haff explained that he had invited JCI to the meeting to explore options to get a better understanding of what the air quality issues are, especially in the middle school, and the roof load concerns that have been talked about since 2019 but have not been addressed.

He also is interested in getting a study done of all the elementary schools as that has never been done, he said.

“I brought Johnson Controls in because they have a proposal that would have net zero costs,” Haff said. “The costs are offset by the savings from energy costs.”

Dean Angeledes, representing JCI, said they looked at ways to upgrade the WUHSMS building “without compromising the new build.”

Angelesdes presented three proposals: The first tier was a low level upgrade for $2.5 million with a payback in less than five years, which would address issues like weatherization, switching to LED lights and introducing a new computer management system for the heating system. The second tier was for $2.9 million with a payback in five to 15 years, which would also include installing solar panels, new windows, and additional building controls and replacing transformers. And, the third tier for $3.7 million, with a payback of more than 15 years, would also include new ventilators, a conversion to hot water heating at WUHSMS and replacement of boilers at some of the elementary schools.

“This would create a better quality building in the short term and allow students and teachers to have a better environment,” he said. “The discussion becomes what the scope of the project is. We don’t want to spend a lot of money and have the building replaced in a short period of time.

“We’re focused on the elementary schools and getting them to a state of modernization,” Angeledes said. “For the high school / middle school, it would be a stopgap to get the school to a better place and a more energy efficient place to operate.”

Haff dismissed the first level. “There’s no reason going for $2.5 million if you can do $2.9 million over five years,” he said. “I think the [third level] for $3.7 is where we should start. It is an $800,000 difference, which would be $160,000 each year for five years. I have no problem spending the money if it means students can learn better, faculty can teach better, the noise level is down and the temperature is going to be within two degrees.”

Fellow school board member Bob Coates agreed that the issues needed to be addressed.

“I don’t know how anyone can be against a short term fix,” he said. “What are we going to say to taxpayers if we’re going to tear it all down? We’re going to be coming with a stretch [with the new school building]. We need to do what makes sense in that short term window.”

Angeledes said that whatever is replaced or upgraded with this project would be able to be taken to the new building if that were to happen.

Interim Superintendent Sherry Sousa was concerned about whether the work being done would require the school district to bring it up to code. “Tier two would bring it up to code,” said Angeledes.

Angeledes explained that for either the first or second tier, there would be no “break up” fee, a fee that the school would be responsible for if they decide to not move forward with the project, and that they would have to figure out what the fee would be for the third tier as that level would require them to do more mechanical design.

Haff put forward a motion to have JCI do a full presentation at the next school board meeting on Nov. 2. Haff, Bristow and Hough voted yes and Coates abstained.

How do the new Killington Transfer Station rules stack up?

 Mountain times

OCTOBER 14, 2020

By Curt Peterson

Killington Town Manager Chet Hagenbarth announced changes for using the town transfer station at 2981 River Road last week at the regular Select Board meeting.

The new rules apply to residential users only – commercial regulations will be announced later, Hagenbarth said.

Starting Nov. 1, transfer station hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

To gain access to the transfer station each driver will have to show a transfer station permit that can be used with any vehicle – multi-car families won’t have to purchase multiple cards as they do in other area towns.

The permits will cost $25 each and will be good for one year.

“The cards will be available next week,” Hagenbarth said.

In addition to the permit card, users will have to have a punch card. Trash disposal will cost $3 a bag – one punch on the card.

“There’s a 5-punch card, a 10-punch card and a 24-punch card that all cost $3 per punch,” Select Board member Jim Haff explained. They must be purchased at town hall.

Zero-Sort recycling is free, but users must have a permit to access the recycling bins, even if they aren’t bringing trash, Haff said at the Select Board meeting. Haff has been staffing the transfer station by himself since Santos Ramos, the previous manager, left the position.

Vermonters have been required to separate food waste from their trash since July 1. The transfer station provides receptacles into which biodegradable bags of food waste can be deposited free of charge with a permit.

“The biodegradable bags are available on-line, or you can get them at Hannaford’s in Rutland,” Haff said.

The Select Board also designated Nov. 7-9  as “Free Bulky Days” when any large furniture or appliance items that don’t contain Freon (such as refrigerators, air conditioners, etc.) can be delivered to the transfer station without charge. Members of the Killington highway crew assist Haff on Free Bulky Days.

“If the items have Freon,” Haff said, “the town gets charged for disposal, so we pass that cost along.”

Bulky items can be taken to the transfer station any time, but require paying for disposal. Haff said there is a “Bulky Sheet” listing charges for specific items the rest of the year.