That the Orange Selectboard is willing to ask voters this spring to appropriate $30,000 for Town Hall repairs should come as no surprise as there is clear evidence repairs are needed: some broken pipes, windows and doors, as well as faulty electrical and phone systems.
Still, we were glad to see the board scrutinize the spending proposal, seen by acting Town Administrator Gabriel Voelker as just a start to necessary repairs.
“We will not be just willy-nilly spending the money,” Voelker assured the Selectboard recently. “It’s an article for $30,000 to repair some major issues in this building.”
The Selectboard asked lots of questions and eventually voted unanimously to allow the article to be added to the Town Meeting warrant on June 18. According to Voelker, it is unrealistic to get estimates for all of the repairs before May 14, and it’s likely the necessary repairs could cost more than $30,000. However, she said $30,000 taken out of the capital stabilization fund would make good start.
“It’s a beginning, it’s a scratch on the surface,” Voelker said. “What I want to do is start in July working on major issues in the building.”
While the Selectboard ultimately voted to add the article to the warrant, some members wanted assurance that the article would be specific so voters could make a well-informed decision.
Selectboard member Jane Peirce said she wants to let taxpayers know where their money might go, and to avoid a situation in which the money could be used for other purposes. “The more specific you can be and the more it’s possible to have very good numbers to each item, the better it will be,” she correctly observed.
We are happy to see the Selectboard being prudent and exercising caution with tax dollars in this way.
Peirce was clear she felt that repairs are necessary. During the same meeting there was an announcement that the Town Hall’s phones were not working properly, and that residents should look up the emails of town officials online, rather than call the Town Hall. Case made, it seems.
“There’s no doubt that the place is falling apart,” Peirce noted. “If we don’t have a working phone system or a bathroom, that’s kind of a hint that there’s trouble here.”
Voelker also mentioned the second-floor electrical wiring could be a fire hazard. “People are running extension cords every time they have a program,” Voelker said. “Let’s solve it now before we regret it.”
Voelker alleviated some of the Selectboard’s apprehension about blank checks by describing the warrant as having a “not to exceed” amount of $30,000, to be earmarked for specific projects.
“People know you’ve got $30,000, you’re going to fix A, B, C, D. We’re doing it in small chunks so things get done; people know the cost,” Voelker said.
So far, so good. But talk about just scratching the surface should make taxpayers a bit cautious. Capping this appropriation at $30,000 for specific repairs is a good idea. But it would also be helpful to know how this work fits into the bigger picture that the Selectboard or Voelker sees.
No one is talking about building a new town office building any time soon, so this repair money apparently won’t be wasted and instead an investment in the future. But it would be nice to see an estimate of how much more money might be needed to make obligatory Town Hall improvements.
Chipping away at a problem as you can afford to isn’t a bad spending strategy — but only if you know how big the problem is that you are trying to whittle down to size.