PHILLIPSTON — Members of Royalston’s Select Board met with their counterparts in Phillipston Wednesday night to finalize plans for spending grant monies received more than two years ago and targeted to making the town hall in each community handicap accessible. The towns received just over $831,000 in fiscal year 2015 Community Development Block Grant funding which was to be used to pay for the installation of an elevator in both municipal buildings. That money, however, went unspent – at least until last night.
At first, it appeared the CDBG funds, in addition to about $340,000 in other local and grant monies, would fall nearly $220,000 short of the cash needed to carry out the two-town project, but a re-working of the Phillipston project appears to have solved that problem. The shortfall occurred even though Phillipston had close to $454,000 in funds available, while Royalston had a total of more than $757,000 dedicated to the project.
However, the architect on the project, Paul Lieneck of the Ashby firm Haynes, Lieneck and Smith, explained that the cost of the Phillipston project could be scaled back considerably by installing a wheelchair lift instead of an elevator. In addition to costing less, Lieneck noted the change would decrease the amount of structural work that would be necessary at town hall.
“We just did a lift like this in Athol,” said Lieneck. “The cost is about $35,000 or $40,000 for the equipment. By comparison, the equipment for the elevator was around $127,000. So, I’m thinking you can save in the range of $220,000 or $225,000 by doing (a lift).”
“You don’t have to upgrade the electric service,” Lieneck explained, “because the lift will run on a standard 220v circuit. You don’t have to build a masonry hoistway. You don’t have to do the elevator. You don’t have to have an elevator pit. You don’t need the elevator machine room. You don’t have to relocate the chimney.”
“With the money you save on the Phillipston project you should be able to fund the total cost of the Royalston project,” said Lieneck.
Phillipston’s Chief Administrative Officer, Kevin Flynn, asked Lieneck if the lift is considered to be an elevator, which is what the CDBG funds were to be used for.
“It falls under the Elevator Board’s (state Board of Elevator Regulations) jurisdiction,” said Lieneck, “but it’s not; it’s definitely a wheelchair lift. But it’s in the elevator code. Whether that makes it an elevator, I don’t know.”
Flynn said changing from an elevator to a chair lift for Phillipston town hall would require the approval of the state Dept. of Housing and Community Development because it would constitute a change in the purpose of the block grant. That, he said, would require a public hearing to receive comment. Flynn said a hearing would be scheduled as soon as possible. The project would then have to be re-bid.
Royalston’s elevator project, however, can now move ahead since the funds for it now appear to be available thanks to the likely savings resulting from the new Phillipston proposal.
As a result, Royalston select board members voted at Wednesday’s meeting to award a contract of $889,000 to Kurtz Construction of Westfield. The bid submitted by the company calls for the elevator to be installed in the back of Royalston’s town hall.