by Mary Grow

The long-discussed storage vault for municipal records was the main topic at the Nov. 4 China Select Board meeting, following up on the Oct. 30 China Municipal Building Committee meeting.

Building committee chairman Sheldon Goodine and members Scott Pierz and Edwin Bailey attended the select board meeting to re-discuss the revised plan for the vault and the Dec. 31 deadline for committing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

Goodine said he expects engineer Keith Whitaker, of B. R. Smith Associates, to deliver an engineered plan Nov. 6. He intends to share it with the state fire marshal, whose approval is needed, and with select board members.

ARPA is supposed to fund the vault; Goodine’s cost estimate is $187,655. The understanding as of Nov. 4 was that contracts need to be signed by Dec. 31 – merely intending to use the money will not meet ARPA requirements.

Goodine’s plan calls for the town to hire an overseer – clerk of the works was one suggested title – and to contract out the various types of work, from site preparation (perhaps to be done by the public works crew) and cement work to roofing.

Majority opinion seemed to be that work should not begin this late in the fall; contracts signed before Dec. 31 should be for work to begin next spring. Select board member and builder Blane Casey said since covid, it is common for work to be contracted well in advance.

The revised plan needs approval from the planning board. Select board members decided they can begin seeking contractors before the planning board acts.

After half an hour’s discussion, board members voted unanimously to start soliciting bids and finalize the permitting process as soon as they have Whitaker’s plan.

In other business Nov. 4, board members unanimously:

— Reappointed planning board members Toni Wall and Dwaine Drummond;
— After reviewing Delta Ambulance’s financial statement for calendar and fiscal year 2023, voted not to pay the 2024 fee in advance, but to pay the minimum required amounts through the year; and
— Accepted the only quote for a new fence for Lakeshore Cemetery, $6,756 from Triple P Fence, of Augusta, a company Hapgood said has done other work in town.

Lakeshore Cemetery, on the east shore of China Lake south of the town office, is one of China’s oldest. Hapgood commented on features that make fencing challenging.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Nov. 18.

by Mary Grow

China Municipal Building Committee member Edwin Bailey discussed his concerns about recent changes in the plan for a records storage vault at the town office building at an Oct. 24 committee meeting. He, Scott Pierz and chairman Sheldon Goodine did most of the talking, with occasional comments from Terry DeMerchant and Angela Nelson.

Committee members voted to continue the discussion with select board members, at that board’s Nov. 4 meeting if there is time on the agenda.

Discussions of the project began more than three years ago, Goodine said. Engineer Keith Whitaker, of Presque Isle-based B. R. Smith Associates (BRSA) has assisted committee members through the years.

The basic concern is the paper records that the state requires a town to keep forever, and that needs climate-controlled, fireproof storage space. Currently they are in a room off the meeting room. The new structure planned to house them came to be called a storage vault.

In 2022, the select board authorized money for BRSA to make an engineered plan for a storage vault plus a concept plan for a larger addition.

Since then, the focus has been on versions of the storage vault, with occasional mention of a bigger addition. On April 25, 2023, the China Planning Board issued a permit for an addition housing a concrete storage vault, connected to the south side of the town office by a corridor.

At the June 2023 town meeting, voters approved up to $43,000 from undesignated fund balance (formerly called surplus) for “the municipal records fireproof vault storage project.”

When select board members sought bids on the work that summer, they received none. In the spring of 2024, however, they awarded a bid to an out-of-town firm – for more than $267,000. No contract was signed, according to Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood.

Discussion quickly turned to another alternative: create safe storage for ordinary records in the former barn north of the town office and build the special vault in the east end of the main building. The idea of using the barn has not been rejected; Goodine said there has not been time to develop details.

The main objection is the inconvenience to town office staff of having documents they might need in a separate building.

At the June 2024 annual town business meeting, voters appropriated up to $155,489 from federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds for “Municipal records fireproof vault storage.”

At their Oct 7 meeting this fall, select board members approved a revised, less expensive concept plan (see the Oct. 10 issue of The Town Line, p. 3), with an engineered plan to be developed promptly.

This plan locates a 26-by-28-foot vault in a new room off the south side of the town office near the east end, with some interior redesign. The town would be general contractor, contracting with local contractors.

Goodine notified the other committee members of the select board action on Oct. 8, and offered to schedule a meeting on request. Bailey emailed questions, and Goodine scheduled the Oct. 24 meeting.

Goodine explained:

— He, select board member and builder Blane Casey and Whitaker developed the plan. Goodine received the final version the day of the select board meeting at which it was approved, so he had no time to share it with committee members.
— The contractors would be whoever is available, as local as possible, and when possible people who had worked for the town before. China’s public works crew could do the groundwork, if schedules allow.
— The budget estimates for each piece of the project, totaling $187,655, came mostly from Casey. Goodine summarized possible decreases and increases, depending on many factors.

Bailey and Pierz asked whether a new plan needed re-approval by voters. After reviewing the wording of the town meeting warrant article, they decided probably not.

Codes Officer Nicholas French told planning board members at their Oct. 22 meeting the new plan would need a new permit, because the 2023 permit has expired and the plan has been changed.

Another question was whether the state Fire Marshal’s re-approval was needed. Goodine said the engineered plan will have it.

Federal requirements say ARPA money has to be “needed” by Dec. 31, Nelson said. There was confusion over what “needed” means, and consensus that the ARPA money does not need to be spent by that deadline.

Committee members discussed inconclusively whether work can or should start this fall. Cold-weather work, like pouring concrete, costs more, Bailey said; but he and Pierz doubted bid prices would hold until the 2025 construction season.