JAY – Building Committee members plan to recommend selectmen transfer money from undesignated revenue in the general fund to allow the town to complete the renovation of the former Jay Family Restaurant into a new town office.

About $435,000 remains of the $729,000 building reserve account, after residents voted in January to buy the vacant, former Jay Family Restaurant on Route 4 for about $270,000 and spent additional funds on engineering studies and other related services.

Parking lot paving costs would overrun the building reserve account for the project by $177,500, said Town Manager Ruth Marden, a member of the Building Committee. The paving would bring the total project cost to $612,500. The committee will recommend the additional money be transferred from the $5 million-plus in undesignated revenue in the general fund, Marden said.

The committee will also be making a recommendation to selectmen on accepting a bid from a contractor for the project, Marden said.

Ten bids were received in September to do the project and all of them exceeded the amount in the reserve account.

The two lowest bidders were Zachau Construction of Freeport and Taylor Made Homes of Wilton.

Zachau’s base bid was $598,800, but adding in three alternative bids for a generator, sound system and siding, the total bid was $634,800. Taylor’s bid was $633,665 but there were some additions and subtractions that needed to be factored in.

Architects were set to work with both companies to see where cost savings could be found to bring the bid prices down.

Nothing really ended up being left out of the project; substitutions were made instead to bring the cost down, Marden said.

The plan is to go with stock cabinets instead of custom-made and to go with another manufacturer for the ceiling materials and water fixtures, she added. “Substitutions were made that would not compromise integrity of the building, but could maximize cost savings to the taxpayers of Jay,” Marden said.

The committee expects to make its recommendations to the Board of Selectmen at their 6:30 p.m. meeting, Monday, Nov. 17 at the Jay-Niles Memorial Library, according Marden.

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