Public Safety Building Committee

Meeting date: 
Monday, October 25, 2021

Princeton MA Public Safety Building Committee Meeting Minutes
October 25, 2021, 5:00 PM, Town Hall Annex

Members present: Ian Catlow, Carl Soderberg, Felicitas Fandreyer

Others present: Matthew Moncrieff

Others on-line: Holly Burgess, Linda Nash, Nathaniel Boudreau, Sherry Patch, Ricky Thebeau,

The meeting began at 5:0 1 pm with an opportunity for public comment which yielded none. 

Old Business was reviewed with focus on the C&B agreement update. Mr. Soderberg would like to keep the focus of the request to be mainly on modular construction as reducing the costs of prevailing wage will likely have the greatest impact on reducing costs. Other costs such as siding, can be figured by committee members and does not need C&B input.  Discussion also included how to contact ICF contractors which are limited in number in Massachusetts. Ms. Burgess reports that there is one in Connecticut that has photos of Public Safety Buildings posted on the website.  There was a unanimous vote to send the C&B agreement to the Selectboard for approval. 

Discussion of Layout, Construction Methods, Materials of Construction continued with the question of how to best get the information regarding construction methods.  Mr. Soderberg noted that an architect could determine the viability of an ICF shell, modular trusses, and modular inside walls.  The question of viability in cost of an all modular construction was also brought up.

Action items:

Mr. Soderberg to look into modular construction.  

Mr. Catlow to reach out to contractors familiar with ICF and modular and ask Chief Bennett if he has any connections with modular contractor.

Mr. Moncrieff to talk to the Connecticut ICF company.

At the next meeting, it was agreed to revisit the materials worksheet for example the furniture costs.

Public Outreach: The assigned committee members were absent this evening but the remaining committee members reviewed the questions from the survey they have produced.  Considerations for the survey include an update from the PSB committee and some information on the work that has been done.  Also recommended was perhaps reducing the number of amounts listed in question 5 to 4, as in question 6.  Further discussion questioned how to get money from grants vs asking state representatives.  Mr. Moncrieff suggested inviting Ms. Ann Gobi, the new state representative, to tour the current Public Safety buildings.  He will also ask her if state PFAS money will have some effect on the PSB money the town could receive. 

Ms. Nash asked the question whether a lower cost Public Safety building would be financed over shorter-term.  It was decided that this decision would be left up to the advisory committee.  Mr. Moncrieff reports that besides PFAS, other future costs in town include town staff compensation increases and the many culvert’s that need repair.  It was discussed how best to access grants and whether that would involve a grant writer.  

Action items: 

Mr. Catlow will talk to Ms. Patch about accessing grants.  

Ms. Fandreyer will talk to a contact in Pepperell who was involved in a recent Public Safety building committee.

The next Public Safety building committee meeting is scheduled for November 15 and then November 29.  

At 6:07  there was a motion to adjourn which was followed by a unanimous yea vote.

Attachments:

Agenda: https://www.town.princeton.ma.us/public-safety-building-committee/agenda...