Finding adequate space to store belongings in a home or an apartment can be a challenge, so imagine how difficult it must be for a municipality to properly store all its records and equipment. The Guilford Facilities Task Force recently came before the Board of Selectmen (BOS) to discuss storage issues and a potential short-term solution.

The task force was formed in September 2018 to analyze how well the town uses its facilities and to help plan for future space needs. Selectmen had pointed out that immediate issues like parking needs, the state of the Public Works Department garage, and a lack of space for records storage prompted the need for a taskforce.

Members of the task force have been at work since 2018, visiting all town properties with the goal of constructing a final, actionable report for the town facilities. While that report is not yet ready, this is the second time the task force has come to the BOS with an independent and immediate recommendation.

“The unheated barn in the Town Hall parking lot is currently utilized by at least two sports organizations for storage,” said task force representative Gary MacElhiney. “They lock the building, denying town access and thus presenting a liability to the town. The Guilford Facilities Task Force has identified a number of town departments with storage issues which could be mitigated by town usage of this building.”

The barn is located in the rear of Town Hall, just off the Guilford Green. MacElhiney said this might not sound like a major issue, but storage needs are critical and the lack of understanding in the use of this barn is concerning.

“One of the things we have discovered is virtually every department has a physical storage issue, whether its bicycles in the basement of Youth & Family Services or excess furniture from the library or whatever, but everyone has some physical storage issue,” he said. “The unheated barn back here has been used for a number of years under no agreement anyone knows about specifically.”

Right now, MacElhiney said it looks like three parties use the barn for storage: Soccerfest, Guilford Youth Lacrosse, and potentially a third unknown party. MacElhiney said the task force was unable to open the barn, even though it’s owned by the town, to determine what is actually in it.

“We don’t think this is a permanent solution for storage or for this building, but it is available now and I think there will be a larger recommendation about overall storage and it may include this site...If you were going to build storage, you wouldn’t pick this, but it is here and we have it, we own it, and it is a liability,” he said.

MacElhiney said the task force is bringing forward this recommendation now because of the season. He said most of the sports equipment believed to be in the barn would be in use now, which might make the town’s repossession of the space easier on all parties.

“These organizations could then utilize an off-site storage facility, which many non-profits in town use,” he said.

The selectmen did not act on the recommendation, citing the need for further research. First Selectman Matt Hoey said the town needs a better idea of who uses the space and for what purpose.

“I think it is only appropriate that the BOS or my office reaches out to both of those organizations and have the discussion with them,” he said. “The ability to immediately find another facility may be challenging, so we may give them a grace period if we make a decision to use it.”

Hoey said the organizations currently using the barn haven’t done anything wrong, but some things just might have to change in future.

“They have been operating under the assumption that this is their’s to use based on whatever agreement under whatever administration that made that agreement,” he said, promising to look into the issue. “I would be hard pressed to believe that we would find a lease or any kind of contractual agreement between us and them.”

The Facilities Task Force meets at 9 a.m. at Town Hall on the third Thursday of the month; meetings are open to the public and listed on the town website.