PHILLIPSTON — Townsfolk have become used to maneuvering around the orange traffic cone on the steps at the main entrance to the Phillipston Town Hall.
Chief Executive Officer Kevin Flynn said that the steps have been repaired several times over the last few years, but continue to deteriorate. The project is on the Selectboard’s general list for capital improvements, he said.
Highway Superintendent Rick Tenney said Wednesday there are a few options to addressing the problem.
“Four years ago, when I came on the department, they were in tough shape,” he said. “We busted out the bottom step real quick, as winter was approaching. We got most of the bad stuff out, and drilled and pinned it and patched it. We did all the right things.”
He said the steps are so close to the road, that between sand trucks throwing sand and salt and people sprinkling rock salt or other deicers for safety, it has caused the steps to deteriorate. He noted that even the so-called “safe” deicers have a negative effect on concrete.
He said a way to address the problem might be to completely remove the bottom step and repour it. Other options are to purchase a complete pre-cast set or build a freeform and pour a new set of steps. He said it may cost upward of $2,500 to $3,000 for a new set of steps.
“I have to do some research to present to the Selectboard,” he said.
The question is, what they might encounter when they start the project.
“We have no idea what they are made of, or even how they were made 100 years ago,” he said. “We don’t know what it will take to rip them out without destroying the porch.”
In addition to the cost, he said the three-member department “is spread thin” in its attempt to help out with other departments, in addition to the regular road projects, general ditch maintenance and shoulder and side roadwork. The highway crew recently installed a new water line from Town Hall to the police department.
The town will price out its options, but in the meantime, will keep the cone in place to alert newcomers of the steps’ condition.
Selectmen voted recently to relocate the accessible parking space in front of the bulletin board at the Town Hall to the right of Town Hall but to the left of the driveway to the police department. An existing accessible parking space is just to the right of the driveway to the police department.
Flynn said a second accessible parking space in front of the Phillipston Congregational Church across the Common will be designated.
“The highway department removed a large stone there,” he said, to enable the siting of an additional designated parking space. The change brings the number of accessible parking spaces around the Common to four.