The renovations are needed to meet new federal mandates.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

JAY – Selectmen voted Monday to send a $357,000 proposal to renovate town and school garages to voters.

They’ll make the decision at a Dec. 8 special town meeting.

The improvements are needed to meet federal mandates, selectmen said.

But resident Al Landry told selectmen later in the evening that he didn’t think they had enough time to get the information out to people before Dec. 8.

“This is the first time we have heard about it,” Landry said. “You dropped a bomb.”

Town Manager Ruth Marden said if the time frame doesn’t work selectmen can push the town meeting back to a later date.

Talks between town and school officials have been ongoing since late summer to consolidate vehicle maintenance services to save money, Marden said.

Several issues face both entities.

The town needs to renovate the highway garage to add a wash station for vehicles to meet a new federal Environmental Protection Agency law that goes into effect in 2005. The law prohibits washing vehicles unless there is proper drainage, Marden said.

Additionally, fire engines and a recycling vehicle do not fit into the highway garage and have to be worked on outside.

To retrofit the highway garage for a wash station alone is estimated to cost $222,500.

The School Department needs to install a new furnace, air compressor and meet compliance issues at the bus garage. That’s projected to cost another $43,000.

If the two departments join together, there could be major long-term cost savings, Marden and school Superintendent Robert Wall said.

Both school and town department heads are developing budgets that would go before voters in April. In order to get an accurate assessment, supervisors need to know how much to budget, selectmen’s Chairman Bill Harlow said.

It would cost about $338,000 to renovate the highway garage to add 20 feet onto the front of the garage to increase it from 40 feet deep to 60 feet deep and raise the roof of the building 3 feet.

That would allow fire engines, school buses and other vehicles to fit inside for needed maintenance.

That figure also includes a 5 percent contingency fund of $17,000 and covers architect and engineering fees.

The school department’s mechanic is retiring by late winter or early spring. The person hired to replace him would be hired by the town and work at the highway garage with the existing mechanic.

Between the two departments there were 3 mechanics. The school didn’t fill a part-time position this year and a town mechanic retired. So there would be two mechanics working instead of 3.

The proposal also calls for the bus garage to be retrofitted at a cost of $19,000 to become the town and school vehicle wash station. The bus garage is already equipped to do washing but it would need to enlarge the overhead door to fit all vehicles.

Doing it that way, officials estimated that there would be yearly savings of $67,250.

The total for both upgrades is $357,000.

Marden said department heads are willing to contribute $116,500 from funds already in place: $55,000 from highway capital reserve fund; $10,000 from highway professional services account; $5,000 sewer capital reserve account; $1,000 buildings and grounds capital reserve; $5,000 fire department capital reserve; $5,000 police department capital reserve; $35,500 school department in the form of a net savings from mechanic’s position eliminated.

The remaining $240,500 would be transferred from the town’s undesignated revenue fund.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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