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06/27/2018 09:15 AMWith a new batch of bids and approvals from town boards, the damaged roof at 1 Main Street, home of the Old Saybrook Chamber of Commerce, may soon be dry and leak-free if the project, along with a slew of sidewalk fixes, wins approval at a July town meeting.
The Town of Old Saybrook received five bids in the second round of requests for bids to complete fixes to the roof and cupola. The first set of bids were all rejected after a review revealed bidders used different process assumptions. After a revised bid specification was issued, the new round yielded five bids, the lowest of which was from Macri Roofing at $88,905.
On June 12, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) approved $90,169 to complete the project. The higher amount includes funding for contingency and for project oversight. The BOS voted to use $60,000 from the town’s Capital Non-Recurring (CNR) fund, moved to the Chamber Repair Fund, and $30,169 from the Gateway Rent Fund.
Fortuna has said that the town-owned building at 1 Main Street has many problems, one of which is a leaky cupola and a failed roof. The town’s insurer, CIRMA, provided $10,000 to repair damage incurred to the interior of the building from the roof’s water leaks. The two roof project appropriations will go toward rebuilding the exterior roof structure including slashing, valleys, rakes, gutters, rain leaders, and drip edges of the roof.
The Board of Finance on June 19 approved two appropriations requests previously approved by the BOS. The BOF approved a total of $100,000, an amount that includes project contingency funds, for the 1 Main Street roof repair project.
Also approved was $150,000 for the repair and replacement of segments of heavily used town sidewalks. The target areas would be along the Old Boston Post Road from near Trask Road to Main Street and then to continue along Main Street and College to Saybrook Point.
With the funding now approved, Fortuna said the town would soon issue a request for bids for sidewalk replacement work, so both the sidewalk replacement and the Chamber of Commerce roof project funding requests will likely be on a July town meeting agenda.
Treasurer Bob Fish at the June 19 meeting told the Board of Finance that the town had just received from the state the second half of this year’s Town Aid-Roads funds. In the budgeting process, the town had not counted on receiving this money from the state. As a result, Fortuna estimates that the town is currently tracking about $450,000 ahead of revenue projections made in the budget process.
Other BOS Action
Fortuna also reported at the BOS meeting that the town had concluded negotiations with the Dispatchers Union.
He said that the negotiations had gone relatively smoothly. The wage settlement he said was consistent with the Connecticut average at 2.35 percent. The contract settlement also includes an increase in the deductible for the union’s high-deductible health insurance plan in the contract’s third year and a new prescription co-pay requirement.