rise for the pledge of allegiance all right ok we can go ahead and do our usual testing of the electronic devices just press either one or two and we'll  everybody see their name anybody have an issue a guess what will go ahead terms of the rules i won't review them in detail you know five minute limit for speaker two questions for the moderator if you're making a motion from the floor you cleanly if you well i'll admit to the floor in addition previously the capital budget committee the d p w police building committee down employees from d p w and police departments tom get soon  d and mary carter community services librarian anybody else requesting to be admitted to the floor all the people are admitted from segment a because it's the same annual town all they have to do it again when apparently would have to do it again so let's not let's not repeat that don go ahead and i guess we are done don go ahead and push yours and make sure you make sure you're h right all right all right we're all set and the other issues all right thank you will not turn to the town clerk for the reading of the warrant allen good evening i l and o'brien cushman town clerk do hereby certify that i gave notice of the adjourned session of the annual town meeting held wednesday may seven two thousand and eighteen by posting in attested copy of the notice adjournment on the town corks official bulletin board at the town hall and at least five other places in town giving notice of the annual town meeting had not yet been completed and had been adjourned to meet again wednesday may thirty two thousand and eighteen at the belmont high school auditorium at seven pm briefly stating the business to be acted upon all in accordance with the representative town meeting act of one nine hundred twenty six as amended and section three zero dash one one zero se of the general bylaws for the town of delman thank you on a brief overview of segment b hopeful that we can do it in two evenings but it's a very  se two evenings tonight next monday and so if we can't win then go to the third evening next wednesday the tonight we have three proclamations and then three reports and then we turn a couple of of the more routine articles and then we turn to the d p w police and then i'm hopeful that we're able to do the capital budget as well in order to complete our work in two nights we do need to do the capital budget tonight which will follow immediately on the d p w police if it's getting much beyond ten i'm not going to have us do something as important as a capital budget at that late an hour with that why don't we begin with the first up proclamation mr dash community as our hub for literature informational assistance and public service to our citizens and whereas the public library staff as served as community from its current building on congress avenue since november of one nine hundred sixty five and beforehand said in the town hall campus and in the current school administration building and whereas this current year two thousand and eighteen marks the one hundred fiftieth year in operation and service of the community currently ranking eleventh in the commonwealth for overall circulation and whereas the bottom up public library is planned and led thousands of meetings informational presentations and large scale community programs for all ages backgrounds interests and ideas in the pursuit of promoting lifelong learning and whereas the belmont public library has provided countless amounts of various materials including books music films and other electronic resources to belmont tony and other residents of the commonwealth these patrons  collectively made over one million visits to our library since two thousand and thirteen with an untold number of visits since the libraries are conception and eight hundred sixty eight now therefore be a resolve that the board of selectmen of the town of belmont joins with the town zero library department heads and staff and the thousands who fill these roles since eight hundred sixty eight you've set a high standard of commitment and dedication to our town and its citizens have served of as an inspiration to the citizens of the town of good evening tom computer board of selectmen town meeting member at large whereas the foundation of belmont education or the f b i is a nonprofit educational foundation and where as for the past twenty five years the f b has succeeded in its continuing mission to enrich the educational experiences of belmont public school students by providing programs equipment teachers support and educational experiences beyond those that could be funded by the town's budget and whereas with the generous support of businesses and members of the community the grants that the f b funds directly impacts every child in every classroom in the public schools and whereas the i has awarded more than three point six million dollars in more than seven hundred fifty grants in support of innovative curricula enrichment technology special initiatives in professional development and where is the f b i has planned and led numerous events to benefit the six belmont public schools through its fundraising efforts including the spring fundraiser and auction spelling bee star awards in shark memorial run in annual appeal and whereas the if b has funded many projects through generous community support of its capital campaigns such as the friends of science the smart board t three campaign and the innovative teaching initiative in whereas the f b a annually honors the extraordinary contributions made by teachers in the belmont public schools with outstanding teacher of the year awards in the s warren farrel of war for educational excellence and whereas the f b i support of the public schools has helped make it possible for the belmont public schools to be ranked among the best in the commonwealth and whereas the f b i now earned the distinction of celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary as the educational foundation for the town of belmont now therefore be resolved that the board of selectmen of the town of belmont join with the town in paying tribute to the f b i for this outstanding achievement you have set a high standard of commitment and dedication which the youth of the town may follow and you serve as an inspiration to the citizens of the town of belmont or to selectmen adam dash share market polo vice chair tom's computer selectman so if i could invite the current f b i board and program committee as well as we have many members of the original board to join us up front good evening crystal ball get foundation for belmont education president on behalf of the foundation for belmont education members both past and present i would like to thank the board of selectmen for the special recognition of the f p and its efforts thank you to the twenty seven founding board members who began this endeavor to support the public schools twenty five years ago we are so grateful some of them are with us tonight and others in spirit our first two f b i presidents frank aguilar and ellen directors and program committee members from the last twenty five years our f b i administrator of twenty years chris school department administration and teachers the school administrative staff and the school custodial staff who help us so much throughout the year every business in the community that has supported our efforts and finally the residents of belmont who have given us the generous volunteer hours donations and support the foundation for belmont education will carry forward our commitment to impact and make a difference in every classroom for every student in the belmont public schools thank you so very much just want to take up a word stands been a friend for a number of years and i've known him and even though he's known as the voice above what i think he's missed about because i think he you have such a passion and he did move the wall for him so i give him a hard time about that but he has such a  passion and love for everything belmont and he knows everyone in town and cures for a lot of folks in town as well so we're certainly going to miss him and because of his outstanding service to the community he's done a lot to sort of build up the joint public safety communications dispatch center here in belmont and i think he should be sorely missed by by the police department all of us as well so the proclamation time to belmont for selection proclamation whereas the joint public safety communications of belmont is under the umbrella of the is active member of the belmont lions club he has served the town as a town meeting member for twenty eight years serving from one thousand nine hundred ninety to two thousand and seven and where as daniel iemma callie is looking toward spending his time in retirement with his wife jackie and his two children daniel in katy now therefore be it was all of that the board of selectmen of the town of belmont joins with the town in pain tribute to this outstanding achievement you good evening i'm kathy chair of the library trustees and i want to first say thank you very much to all of you to the selectmen for that wonderful proclamation so thank you for half of the trustees and the library staff  spend a few minutes talking tonight about the library today reflect back on the library one hundred fifty years ago and how it's changed touch on the building committee introduce the foundation and then hopefully  with a little video that i hope you'll find uplifting and inspiring so by the numbers i think this is these are some of the statistics we have shared with you and the past eleven library in the state of massachusetts i feel like we're the little engine that could each of the statistics that you see out here are a year over year increase so we continue to see people visiting the library using the library services  greater numbers than they have year over year we continue to see high growth and electronic media and people downloading books and accessing materials that way we continue to see strong growth in circulation for children and no surprise given the increase in population of school children in town the majority of our resident told a library card we are a very well trafficked building we have about a thousand unique visitors a day so a lot of people and we provide all with great support from our volunteers and we are constantly looking at our databases or materials to find that which is most needed by the public and which is going to compliment the other programs that we have in town encourage you to look at the annual report that's available on the web site and it has much more information about the details behind the statistics hundred sixty s the thing that changed the most about the library was its location it had four different homes during that time frame but how people use the library really didn't change much over that one hundred years people continued to use the library as a destination a place that you go to to get information and largely in printed form when we think about the last fifty years however a lot  tremendous growth and change in the programs that people are participating in really going to the library for a new and unique things using the technology resources of the library coming to the library to learn how to use it their own technology continue to take continue to participate in programs both inside and out no surprise given that growth i know one thing we've spoken to you about is that the library building is no longer fit for repairs and infrastructure considerations with the building in november last year voted unanimously to fund and appoint a building committee so i wanted to give you an update about where the building where you can see the folks that are that are part of the building committing we're fortunate to have a dedicated group we have a number of folks who are on the committee serving in a capacity for the first time so appreciate that engagement with the community the focus of the committing since being appointed in february has been to focus on hiring the owner's project manager so we're happy to report that that recommendation has been for put forth and we are in the process of contract negotiations and finalizing the selection when that individual is on board the first thing that they'll do is work with the building committee to go through the process of  selecting an architect we expect that to happen by the end of the summer early fall and then we'll look to board that architect and really start the public engagement process in late q four into  one building on the information that we've already collected through some of the other efforts of the fuse ability study one of the reasons why we appointed and i think we all chose to go forward with the schematic design which is you can see the committee members are active in that group and their their purpose is to really drive the fundraising for private funds to support the library they have a new website encourage you to go look on the web site understand what they're all about hearing much more from them in the months to come lastly i've been using this analogy a lot about the three legs in the stall so clearly at the town members to serve to make sure that we're monitoring managing overseeing the people in the process of the budget and the plant of the library on the left we have the foundation focused on fund raising and other key group is the friends you cannot walk through the library without seeing an impact of the friends organization and they support many programs including the museum passes they have supported the refurbishment of the reference room and they have also supported the landscaping that you see so nicely on the outside so really it does take the work of many constituents to achieve the results of the library my call  action for each of you is to come and partake in discover what the library is today not what it was ten years ago or twenty years ago when you were doing your old book encyclopedia research project but come and see what the library has to offer today you can come and visit us if you are someone who likes to access things online we have a website you can visit a fun facebook we have an app we have an electronic newsletter so my to action is to come and discover with the library has to offer today so thank you for your time i hope you reach out to any of us to make sure that you're always aware of what we're offering in the library and where we are in terms of the programs and  activities that we have going on i'm going to conclude with a brief video that we put together a couple years ago to try to get people to think about what is the library  we're doing on local aid which is always a central priority for us i'm just spend some time talking about transportation issues first the bad news to recap the bad news which is the first of all we're not an island be the most of the traffic in town is cut through traffic we cannot block it all the projections are it will only get worse there is no solution at hand alewife let me just talk a little bit about that that's been studied for years going back ten years studies were done about could we add more buses profitably at l wife and most of the routes that are cost effective are already being served could add to the garage sale wife you'd love to but we don't have the capacity or around the garage to get the cars in and out already if you had a couple more a couple thousand more cars it would be a disaster there we were able to develop some intersection improvements which do make a difference in throughput right at that intersection where there used to be a rotary and we did look at bringing the rosary back that's not a useful idea either the but that's a whole system that you're looking at going on into cambridge and you really can't change that too much and the last insight that comes out of those studies is and this is something that really relates to all of the traffic we have in belmont is that traffic today is everywhere to everywhere we are conscious of people jumping off of route two and cutting through belmont to get to cambridge but really there's a lot more people in medford perhaps going to let's say waltham than there are from concord trying to get into boston so the traffic is in multiple directions so there's no easy solution the good news is that and this is all good news from here on out the that we're kind of recovering from the big dig that's kind of in the rearview mirror and there was a a lasting hangover in the attitudes of planners in the transportation world in massachusetts people were kind of depressed and humiliated and cautious and understandably so and the budget hangover as also lifted to some degree we've we've paid off some of the notes that  were holding down our capital borrowing capacity and so people are starting to look up and people are starting to think about what we can do one idea that isn't coming back by the way just one more know is the extension of the red line on out to like arlington and lexington that's an idea that got killed due to community opposition in arlington actually in the eighty's unfortunately as a that's an idea whose opportunity time has passed what's very exciting now i think is very exciting is the is the is the hard look we're giving at regional rail when i moved to belmont twenty five years ago i deliberately chose to be in walking distance from a train we only looked at houses there were within walking distance of belmont center of waverly and i rode that train for about three weeks and i said forget it because it's not it's not frequent enough you miss the five thirty you're dead till seven thirty miss the seven thirty forget about it and it's just not a viable way to commute as compared to the bus or walking to a wife what we're looking at now is that there's no where there's no way t run frequent trains out of business not the demand for that but what we're looking at now is can you run short run trains let's say from from north station out to waltham and back and do that every fifteen minutes and do that throughout the day so that people would have a chance to meaningfully commute on those same question same thing on the list or a line could you have trains that went out to newton or brighton and went back and forth that sort of subway like service on our rail system it's not an easy proposition the patrick administration sort of it out and then the baker in a station sort of rolled it back because they realized there wasn't a short term thing but were there's a study going on now which is really designed to answer the question can we move in that direction and if we can that's a very hopeful prospect so i think we're going to get some good answers on that some good engineering being done now today we only have a few hundred people that ride the train maybe maybe three hundred or so and maybe we have something a little under one thousand that ride the seventy four seventy five the seventy eight the buses that run on this side of town but on the dense side of town along propellor road there are three thousand people who get on the seventy three pos every day and go in and go in town so that is arse that is by far our largest transportation service here in belmont and it's one that i'm very focused on so a few things that are coming down the pike there that are in the good news category we're working on the prospect of transit signal priorities so that the bus doesn't awaited a red light and that is something t e pilot and other communities who are starting to talk about that with belmont see if that can be done we are this is well along from a design standpoint and will happen is creating a dedicated bus line bus lane in front of that place along  in front of the cemetery street by star market there where people always wait for five ten minutes to get through multiple light cycles and so will not only create a dedicated bus lane but change the signal timing so that the buses going to advance and jump ahead and move on across the street that's something that we were hoping to do as soon as june it's not going to happen in june or waiting for signal stuff it's going to look more like the fall but the transit signal priority dedicated bus lane signal timing and then the longer term prospect is changing the geometry of the intersection there in auburn hospital which is you know that angled intersection very wide space takes you ten minutes to ten seconds to get across even even if you know the light turns yellow or red so that's a that's a congestion issue and we think we can make some progress on that so when we get those things done that will result in the effect of shorter trips more frequent trips and more reliability less bus bunching the kinds of things that happen as a result of congestion there so that's a hopeful vision for the seventy three  raise but always almost everybody at the end of the day ends up happy if we if the both the process is done right and so belmont has worked hard on that and we've we've got a design out once belmont really sets that i design design in stone that step will be will be on us to get the state to pay for that we've been successful that with getting route sixty redone pleasant street we've been successful in that and getting belmont propellor road done and i'm sure we can be successful in it with this bike path i want to say that the process for funding that is an extremely competitive process and it's an extremely transparent process i do think we're likely to be successful but i want to make a comment there right now we have a design on the table that is very complicated and very expensive across the tracks for times so it's a thirty million dollars project for a two to three to a mile bike path that's a high number and so we're going to have to keep looking at that and what i'm trying to do is state senator is trying to facilitate a dialogue dot planners who are trail supporters to look at this look at this project and work with the town to get to a design that we can all get through the process in closing i just want to touch on one last area which i'm i'm thrilled about right now we have in the in the in this may may sound surprising but truly some brilliant engineers who are really passionate about making the service better on the orange line the red line the green line and they're looking at and they've they've they've done the engineering studies and in a very create ative way to ask if we have to spend billions of dollars to just rehab things how can we do it in a way that will dramatically improve the quality of service and they have developed an approach grid of approaches on the red line which will as we make the investment in not replacing all the redline cars which is happening the contracts out it is happening five six years away it's end of job but those cars are being built you'll see a fifty percent increase in the carrying capacity on the red line and they've and they've now completed the same kind of design analysis on the green line where we are looking at the possibility i mean not the possibility of the plan to get to doubling the capacity on the green line so for people who are you know don't take the subway because once they get in town it's hard to get around the options i think over the next ten years it's going to take some time are going to get better and better so i view as a central part of my mission to focus on these transportation issues to keep that regional rail vision moving to keep the progress on the seventy three moving to keep the progress on the bike path moving and to keep to really support that great work that's projects working group it is my distinct privilege this evening to deliver to you three reports in conjunction with several articles which are all related to capital spending as i was trying to figure out a way to keep all of these various reports separate and distinct in your minds i remembered a scene from the movie the darkest hour about winston churchill in the lead up to britain's entry into world war two early in the film churchill has been summoned to buckingham pal meet with george the sixth we see him in his room his wife fussing over him churchill want churchill finishes getting dressed and he walks over to an entire wall of hats all of them hanging neatly in rows and he asks what is the appropriate hacked to wear to visit the king he chooses a silk top patch and he's off so i decided to choose three hacks to represent each of my reports this evening i begin with major capital projects working group which is about for capital building projects so i begin with my hardhat my report on major capital projects is going to be very brief and very straightforward as most of you know we were formed in february of two thousand and seventeen to focus on four major capital projects the high school the library the department of public works and the police station we were tasked with creating a plan for prioritizing timing financing and constructing we met with everybody who would sit down with us all the town department heads committees library trustees high school building committee everybody and a as you know belmont high school building project is well underway and last november as kathi noted we launched the library building committee as well as the d p w and police department building committee therefore what we have for you tonight is four very simple recommendations which pretty much jive with what's already going on i'd like to quickly run through those with you and then get to our closing statement certainly we support the belmont high school building their desire to hold a debt exclusion next november and if passed to proceed with design and construction of that building for the library as cathy has already explained to you the library foundation will be raising we hope a substantial percentage of the total cost of the library project before they proceed with the debt exclusion we suggest that that debt exclusion should not happen until after the year two thousand and twenty to allow the d p w and police station building projects to near completion for the d p w we recommended i'll give you all the details of this information very shortly d p w has a short term plan for one point four million dollars which should proceed as soon as possible and then a long term plan which should be ready to go in ten years similarly the police have a plan that we're going to talk about very shortly for both renovation and expansion of the existing police station to allow them to stay in place in a pretty permanent structure not to exceed seven point five million dollars that two should begin as soon as possible looking towards the future what are our recommendations we believe that there will always be major building projects they don't go away we know that we're looking at the incinerator site and what do we put there the future of the hockey rink and the white field house and certainly not that far down the road the other three elementary schools are going to need some major upgrades and renovations there are four major capital projects working group recommends that our present temporary committee disband we feel that we have done our work everything is under way and we now need to step back however we feel very strongly that a new permanent committee should be formed first of all with a much better name than major capital projects working group but beyond that with members you have better name guys with members from the capital budget committee the warrant committee the permanent building committee the board of selectmen representatives of or the people themselves the town treasurer and the town administrator and in addition to that perhaps someone from the school committee and the planning board as well would make sense i'd like to thank all of our members we worked very hard and very quickly on our plans and on the various reports that we have given you this time last year and last november these are people who came together quickly who were very good at analysis who were very good at creative thinking and came up with some very good recommendations and you're seeing the fruits of that this evening with one of the building committees we particularly thank the town department heads and the assistants who met with us and worked with us town committee members the library trustees their feasibility study and the belmont high school building committee as winston churchill said we shape our buildings and they're after they shape us and so when these four facilities are completed they will shape who and what we are in belmont so we have to do it right thank you fiscal year commencing july first two thousand and eighteen the amount set forth opposite the name of each officer as listed below salaries of the elected officials town moderator four hundred  fifty dollars share of the board of selectmen five thousand dollars to selectmen forty five hundred dollars each town clerk ninety nine thousand and fifty three dollars town treasurer one hundred three thousand four hundred sixty two dollars the chair of the board of assessors three thousand and thirty dollars and two assessors at twenty two hundred dollars each how does the warrant committee vote mr administrator the town treasurer and the town clerk are a full time elected positions they are treated as employees to the extent that they work a regular schedule and problem line with the wage and classification schedule most employees the town has benchmarked these two positions to management scale currently at a greedy these positions are eligible for health insurance benefits these positions do not accrue  sick personal time so when they leave employment they do not receive a vacation balance pay out as does every other appointed employee in town the town treasurer has budget salary line calls for a two percent cost of living increase and the town clerk salary line calls for a four percent increase a two percent cost of living and two percent step equivalent there is an established practice in town that if a position is being paid below the midpoint of the salary range the employee can get up to a four percent increase the town treasurer is currently above the midpoint and the town clerk is below thank you thank you is there discussion of the motion under article prepare currently none of those listed positions collect benefits for the town thank you and there's friedman bonnie friedman precinct three each year i've come up here and asked for a history of the full salaries for that clerk in the treasurer because those are the ones that change last year i was promised that i wouldn't have to come up here again and we don't have it it is nice to have patricia garvin's report but that information wasn't given to us and i ask once again to please give us a history so we know exactly where we are voting on thank you one last i'm sorry last year's  oh sorry patrice garvin time mr could use clarify what you're asking i was asking for several years that we just get a number each year and it's been three four years that i've come up and asked for a history and last year i was promised that i would have to come up again ok so i can give you the general increase over last year's amount for the town treasurer from july first of this year it will be a two thousand dollars roughly two thousand dollars increase over last year's salary and for the town clerk it's roughly a thirty eight hundred dollar increase over last  asked about benefits if any one of these take benefits that's seventeen thousand what would double it if in any given year somebody chose to take benefits the committee to the c s and asked me selected number of selectmen pointed out and found in massachusetts general on chapter thirty two b section two that any elected employee who receives compensation for his or her like to position is old double for benefits no matter the amount of his or her compensation so even if we pay somebody one dollar and they're elected and then they get benefits so i called lexington today selection and doesn't comment see their selectman i'm not sure about the moderators i don't know about assessors in other towns there's much more research to be done before we kind of pull the rug out from under what we've been doing in belmont the status quo is a few thousand dollars for each selectman with five hundred  the discussion to see how we would feel about looking at these elected employees that make these minuscule amounts saying how much we appreciate them and maybe commentating them in other ways and taking out the salaries we could compensate them in ways like telling them how much we thank them for not causing the selectmen to give one hundred dollars to forty different causes in town and i know that it's expensive to be a slick because you're asked to do various things so i just wanted to put that out there get out begin the discussion see whatever thoughts or comments others have this year or in future years i'd love a history like bonnie says and i'd love for us to do a little bit more research into other towns how much they compensate people and if there's any rationale tied to that amount that they compensate thank you thank you miska any further discussion saying not all those in favor please say i was opposed  fiscal year two thousand and nineteen pursuant to chapter forty four section fifty three b and a half happily and a half of the general laws in authorized in section fifty two twenty of the town's general byelaws as printed in to forty four section fifty three cappy and a half and what it is it just creates expenditure limits at the partment revolving fund is a place to set aside revenue received so self contained for the programs that are listed within all of these funds through fees and charges providing a specific service or program the revenue pools in turn a source of funds available to use by a department without further appropriation to support the particular services or programs so standard article the one fund that is new feel rentals for maintenance and improvements in the expenditure limit of sixty thousand so what you see here in your in your motions and in your warrant is the expenditure limits and again this is all sort of self funded if you will for these programs that's live and a discussion honey meeting member precinct one chairman of the public works belmont police department building committee article twenty three moved that the town go to transfer five hundred ninety thousand dollars from the candle stabilization fund and appropriate seven million four hundred thousand dollars to pay the costs of renovating the current police station and d p w facilities including the payment of all other incidental costs and related expenses and that to meet this appropriation the town treasurer with the approval of the board of selectmen be authorized to borrow said sum of money under the provisions of chapter forty four section seven parentheses one or any other unable in authority and to issue bonds or notes of the town therefore any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote less any such premium applied to the payment of the costs of issuance of such bonds or notes may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with chapter forty four section twenty of the general laws  thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount out of the capital budget committee vote capital budget committee votes unanimously in support of this article and the board of selectmen and after the board it would appear i need to make one correction now of course i have to find a piece of paper that i just put away while she's doing that let me explain it as anne marie will say they're going to be a series of speakers well we tried to do here it's longer but we're spending eight million dollars proposed to spend eight million dollars so and where the deciding body here so it's important secondly we've tried in the presentation to answer the questions that were of the motion should read as follows that the town vote to transfer five hundred ninety thousand dollars from the candle insurance fund so i will let you that we're not sure it's for stabilization  with that do you want to begin the presentation thank you mr moderator members of the town meeting i am most excited to present to you this evening a plan to finally address the department of public works and the belmont police station because this presentation involves both departments i already have my hardhat over there and i have borrowed the chief difficulties mastered our opportunities one and i think that summarizes what we are doing here what we hope we are doing here this evening with this project to my knowledge the town has never undertaken two more diverse building projects simultaneously this evening i will give an overview some background and speak specifically to the financing of this project i then will turn it over to our architect ted golan today to show you the plans  represent an enormous amount of experience as town meeting members as former selectman as members of the warren committee and the capital budget committee as members of various other committees and in particular members of the permanent building committee in addition we have worked very closely with newtown administrator patrice garvan our police chief richard mclaughlin assistant chief mike isaac d p w director jay markov and assistant director michael very quickly after forming we hired two professionals are o p m are owners project manager is familiar to many of you in this audience soonest of daedalus projects incorporated of boston many of you will remember tom when he was the director of community development for belmont for twenty two years so we are thrilled to have him back you know where all the bodies are buried in addition tom served after leaving belmont as commissioner of public safety for the commonwealth of massachusetts for eleven years under three different governors we have to introduce you tonight our architect ted golan t of the golan to the architecture studio of cambridge ted's firm focuses on public safety buildings and especially the historic restoration of these buildings we have in the last few weeks received some questions from many of you about how we hired these professionals so very briefly in both cases we put out a request for services we received multiple responses and after a small subgroup of our committee reviewed those we interviewed the firms that looked most promising or that would be a best fit for belmont in the case of both  and tom the fee for services was negotiated after we chose the individual so cost was not a factor in our choice what is an o p m an owner's project manager is an advocate for the town that person in this case tom works for the building committee he will oversee the project he will keep the architect and eventually the contractors on task on time and on budget tom is currently also working on the belmont high school project and dateless company is familiar to belmont going way back to the chattering middle school project ted's firm was one of eight who submitted proposals to us we interviewed for we weighed all of the advantages and disadvantages as well as the relevant experience of these four firms and i have to be honest with you just like ted answers ted's answers the best when we interviewed him and so we hired him all right let's start with the police station we hope that by now you have had an opportunity to tour both of these buildings at the very least that you've had an opportunity to look at the videos that we censor the links to imagine that you work in the police station you need to meet with the detectives or you need to get to the chief's office and you can't climb twenty one stairs or your female officer and you have no place to shower or change the present building as you see it on concord avenue was built in one nine hundred thirty one the lobby was renovated nine hundred ninety five making it more secure and some minor work was done to accommodate the female officers inside the building the present size is fourteen thousand feet which is grossly undersized for the work that a police department does today eighty seven years after this building was constructed feasibility studies over the years have been done since two thousand and eight for a new police station on various sites including the present site the side of the library and we had some general information about placing the police station at the d b w site these studies include estimates for new construction ranging anywhere from twenty million to thirty five million dollars depending on location despite the many deficits of this building because there was never a clear consensus on a site the police station never rose to the top of the list for new construction similar issues with the department of public works if you ever had a sewer back up in your basement and those guys come right away and they fix it for you and think about what they look like when they leave your house they've got no place to go to shower or change or deal with that clothing think about the winter of two thousand and fifteen and the one hundred twenty inches of snow you shoveled those guys are out on the road for eighteen hour shifts at a time with no place to take a break and no place to rest the structure that we will be working on was built in the early one nine hundred thirty s over the years numerous garages and shops have been added some minor work was done on that main building in one nine hundred eighty one with the promise that it would be replaced very soon as mike santorum likes to remind us that was thirty seven years ago multiple feasibility studies have indicated that the building must be replaced immediately and that new construction could cost anywhere from twenty eight to thirty six million dollars let's look at the recent history of how do we make this happen for these two buildings capital budget committee attempted in two thousand and twelve to prioritize the outstanding capital projects we used criteria and based on that both the d p w and the police facilities rose to the top of the list similarly in two thousand and fifteen the financial task force capital subcommittee arrived at the same conclusion problem was the police did not have a firm site for new construction and there was just no constituent outcry for the d p w by two thousand and seventeen with major capital projects we noted that something had to happen and thank you everyone wonderfully last november this building committee was formed to make it happen at the november two thousand seven hundred town meeting the proposed solutions that we presented to you in order to ask you to form our building committee was a total short term solution for both buildings costing four point four million dollars with the goal of long term permanent construction of both buildings within ten years which could cost upward of fifty thousand dollars total million thousand dollars we could have done it right away daw why are we messing around fifty million fifty million million it's nothing so here we are we will present to you this evening our final recommendations for both of these buildings and you're going to see some extraordinary drawings as to how this is going to work and we'll talk about the financing i'm going to go through this piece very quickly because i'm going to leave the detail to ted what we're proposing for the d p w is interior renovations and added modular units on both the rear and the front of the existing building which will include the stuff that i have up there what are the advantages for one point four million dollars you get the biggest bang for your buck with what we are proposing the work can be completed very quickly employees and contractors can have a fav humane accessible work space and then in ten years we absolutely must move forward with a permanent structure there but the ten year window allows us to address the high school and the library final recommendation for the police station please understand that we what we are now proposing for the police station is a permanent fix that we would renovate and add to create a total of twenty four thousand square feet which is the correct size for the number of officers that we have and the size of the town of elmont and that work will include what's up on that slide and ted will tell you about it what are the advantages new long term facility for the cost of renovations all safety and code requirements would be addressed as we would also do for the d p w it allows the police to remain in belmont center it increases their parking they retain in their present structure their workout area as well as the firing range we preserve the historic georgian exteriors of that building and we think we will be able to phase the work to minimize disruption and the cost of relocation are now down to the nitty gritty the finances the belmont police station total project cost all in everything that we're ever going to need their top of the range no more than seven point five million dollars we have a dollar range for all of this we are giving you the top figure and we are planning for the top figure we hope it comes in last but it's smarter to plan for the top so police station seven point five d p w total cost for addition and renovation one point four million i stood here in november and told you that that could cost one point six already it's a bargain total project cost not more than eight point nine million dollars and i remind you that the police cost is for the complete long term solution are we going to do this this is the creative part we are committed to making this financing work with out a debt exclusion seven point four million dollars which is the maximum construction cost and it's not the design that's not the site work that's not the fancy bush's that's the construction cost will be financed with the thirty year bond the annual debt payment on that bond will be four hundred and forty thousand dollars it will be paid with one time capital funds such as rolling off desk that we have incurred for example the belmont high school alarm system or the belmont center reconstruction work m s b a reimbursements we've already put the money out for design work on the high school m s p a reimburses us that money then can flow into this project in addition to that approximately one million dollars of design and furnishing fees the five hundred ninety thousand dollars you just heard in the motion is the design money that we need in addition to what's remaining from what you gave us last november and that will come from the candle insurance fund in addition furnishings fixtures and equipment will come from capital discretionary money we anticipate that the d p w work will be done very quickly and that the police work will fall perhaps a year after that that would spread that draw on the capital discretionary money over at least two years and finally that leaves us with about a half a million dollars left we have identified miscellaneous other sources such as capital turn back money we'll know when we go out to bid exactly how much extra money we need so that half a million is an estimate at this point in addition to that but not part of project it is the intention of people to file for c p a money to do the restoration of the historic exterior so the brick pointing and work on the windows and paint the front door and whatever in addition to that just like all the other projects in town we are more than happy to accept donations floyd carmen will take your check tonight think about this a little bit for that special someone in your life what's nicer than a holding cell in their name honor the woman in your life with a locker with a shower in her name what could be nicer i have to at this point this has been a very fun committee as you've noticed to work on i think all of the members as well as our administrators this is been a very fast track project we've met two and three times a week since the committee formed we have developed in a direction that we never anticipated and i have to say that each of the folks on this committee has really contributed their very special talents to the combined effort that we're presenting to you tonight we especially appreciate everyone's commitment just to keep the information flowing and to be able to move this project forward to make it work for all the parties involved before i turn it over to our architect i would like to share one very quick vignette with you from our meetings a couple weeks ago we were struggling with the final numbers and how to cover the cost without a debt exclusion patrice and floyd were pushing back on our plan pretty hard because they decided it maybe was too expensive it started to look as if we would not be able to do it because so many factors about the police station were escalating the final cost m turned to me and said if you can't make it happen d p w will step back and wait a couple of years so that the police station go forward we have waited this long we can wait a little longer i think that says everything you need to know about these selfless people who work for you they have been doing we have been doing our best now it is time to do what is necessary  article twenty three these people have your back they have your interest at hand and so we've been working on these projects trying to resolve a number of issues and really what you can see and marie hinted at there is the main building at the  department public works that is in pretty tough shape and the main issues really are the locker area is in what we call the sort of dirty area of the garage right it's a it's a tough set of lockers that are there and pretty rough shape and it's behind a kind of curtain and the curtain is drawn really somewhat the privatized it but really because they wash the trucks right there in the water sprays up and really where these people are trying to take a break after they've been working and so it's really not a great spot there's also a gender equity issue there are no female facilities and in the building and so that's something that needs to be addressed as an essential item to address the office that's there and the restrooms that are there are six feet up in the air up us up a flight of stairs and so they're not accessible  to anyone persons in a wheelchair or what have you so there are a number of issues in the in the building and so i'll just talk to you quickly about this is an aerial photo we're looking down from the sky that's the building in question that's the rail line that we talked about there's the possibility of a community path along here that was mentioned a little bit earlier the fuel in the air fueling areas here and we abstract that into a drawing this is the same looking same sort of thirty thousand feet up where looking at that the tracks there we go i'm going faster now ok so here is the existing building two hundred thirty feet long sixty feet wide we came in the front door here there's a small lunchroom on this side up a set of stairs an office here a men's room and that sort of locker area is back here and that dotted line represents the the break area and so you can see that these highlighted pieces are really that's the locker area that's the inaccessible i'm sorry that's that's the the men's room there's no gender equity there's no women's restroom in the facility that is we have to go up a flight of stairs to get to either of these two so if you're in a wheelchair  not a great proposition so the proposal here is to resolve all of those items in a pretty simple set of renovations and additions with modula construction on either side of the building and some simple renovations on the interior so the proposal furnishes the lockers within a clean area with some privacy solves the gender inequality provides accessible offices and restrooms  and the way we do that is a darker color it's an orange color is new construction and the yellowish color looks a little mustardy here but that's the that's the renovation and so where proposing in that same aerial slide where adding a modular piece of building there onto the existing building adding a piece of modular there renovating the interior in this portion of the building  and planning for some future tanks and future cycling path or community path in the back by turning the building slightly this is roughly an eighteen by one hundred area of modular construction the idea is to make it a slab on grade with some simple modular components on top and in that area would be a men's room men's locker room women's locker room women's restroom and a training area  and larger break area for the longer term shifts all behind a closed door the closed off area here so that dirty kind of locker area that's here gets moved inside and equalized there's a little laundry area here so that as andrea said when someone is you know their clothes are contaminated from working in a sewer area they can clean up here wash their clothes here take a shower here and not bring things home to their families where it should be able to be taken care of here lunch room gets expanded to be a little more accommodating for for the folks that are that are working in there and we have a check in area for contractors currently there's no area for contractors to check and when there's a snowstorm and it goes on for days and days or other accessible areas and restrooms at accessible areas and so architects like to draw drawings and where they're all you know they're always nice and straight all the lines are straight well this is looking at the front of the building and really if i drew this accurately this building would be going like this because it's really not very good shape as an older building but the trailer is a modular more culturalism modulars are you know that is the piece of modular that's added to the building on the front there and that is the module that's added to the on the rear of the building there and the rest of the building is all the existing component if we look at it from the side it's that little bump out here that's a little fuel house and that's a little bump out on that side and if we look at it from the other side same sort of thing but if we look at it from up above there we go that is our building the overall main building two hundred thirty feet long in this direction roughly sixty feet in this direction this is the roughly twenty by one hundred men's area women's area training room laundry area and this little corridor piece the break room that's here the check in room and this side and the offices up in the front and it starts to come together to look like that as a set of additions to the building lowering scale modular units that will give a ten year duration at which point really that larger building should be replaced and adequate facilities be provided for the department public works ok the police department similar sets of issues unequal facilities for women no elevator in the building very unsafe prisoner  hundred thirty one eighty seven years and largely has not changed in that time period it is you know has all the classic bones of the original building with very minor renovations really just the entrance lobby but the police have been doing their active work out of the this facility for a long time currently the site plan this is conquered the town hall is up here congress here pleasant is here one police cruisers come in off of that the corner there into some parking  places over here this is the building outline footprint outlined right there that the other access is down between in the ramp between the belmont my building in the police building and this is much lower in grade some fourteen feet lower than the area up here there's a generator and a fuel pump and some things in the back of the building and you can see the tracks are along there just to kind of familiarize for those of you who've been in the building you might know this but just to go through it quickly there's a fitness center a training range down in the bottom of the tiny bit of evidence storage in that area there's a little known mezzanine that is right above the training range and there's really some server area and storage up in that  it's there's a that is a useful part a bit of a space i would say the existing first floor the entrance here up a set of steps to that entrance dispatches on this side i'm sure you're all familiar with this area because you paid your tickets there plenty of times so that's a traffic and records area this squadroom is here there's a men's restroom lockers all in here there's women's restroom and lockers kind of in  sorry on the first floor in adequate women's facilities right we know that there's an inadequate inadequacy between what's provided on the men's side these are all lockers this is really a rest room with a couple of locker you jammed into it in a hallway with a couple of lockers  unsafe prisoner transport this is a really key issue currently someone a visitor that comes in the back of a police car gets brought to this area right here and they're brought in through this door this is  door that all people used to go into the police station the officers but also civilian employees and their civilian employee you could be in here having lunch when someone gets brought into the police station as a visitor and that that that visitor may be someone's neighbor so there's a lack of privacy immediately right that happens there is no secure place for the officer to secure their firearm once they get in there is no secure place to contain the visitor to the police station and there's the risk of that visitor bolting back out the door which apparently has happened moreover that visitor has access is in a public corridor and can get into the traffic and records or into an office and a cost someone for goodness sake they can also go into the lunch room and pick up what could be a weapon so there's a there's a very unsafe way of bringing visitors into the police station to get them into booking to then put them in the holding cell and that's something that really needs to be addressed there's also no elevator in the building so to get up to twenty one twenty one steps is nigh impossible if you're in a wheelchair one could get in that door but that's about all they can do so on the second floor chief's office detectives are here grass only a say only a single means of the grass if there is god forbid some violence that happens on the first floor and the people in second floor need to get out they have one way to get out which is down one set of stairs the violence better not be at that bottom that's there ok so our proposal solves all of these issues and tries to solve them well solves the gender equity gender inequality issue provides an elevator solution that we've talked about as an interior exteriors but it's basically an elevator solution allows for the very safe transfer of prisoners coming to the to the facility furnishes an adequate evidence storage an adequate evidence lab creates a second means of regress and we like to think does a little bit more  if i go back to the site plan conquered pleasant we've moved the entrance down pleasant street slightly so away from the corner and down pleasant street slightly we have modified the parking a little bit and in fact park on the roof you can see four spots on the roof of this orange addition that's over here member i said there's a great change from this location to this location we can still drive cars down here into what will be a new garage will show you in a second but we're adding some parking and we're adding a sally port sally port is is a secure garage one can the police in the cruiser with a visitor can pull up to the sally port push a button the door opens the cruise goes inside push a button the door closes now everyone is secure and a lot of secure things can happen in that secure his own a lot of figures the numbers the bottom line is we end up with a roughly twenty four thousand square foot building  the basement proposal where there was a garage we now put in adequate male and female locker rooms and restrooms and this area we put in a second means of the grass in this area and we put an elevator in the middle of the building right there the fitness center stays the range stays the boiler room stays this is a new this is the new addition piece which is we take the garage it was here and we put it over here we put in a couple of storage lofts which help add to the storage without getting a lot of square foot without increasing the footprint significantly and we have ample evidence storage in that zone but the elevator is a key element second means of the grass is a key element again adequate women's facilities  elevator added to that spot and a second means of the grass with the storage lofts at the mezzanine level in the new component of the building if we go to the first floor plan visitor can come into this sally port through through there's an overhead door here they're in a cruiser there they're contained that the officer can drive in the door closes there's another door here under that word secure the cruiser comes in the officer can come out store their firearm in a gun locker right here so then that they can go retrieve the person from the back of the vehicle and bring them into the secure entrance and there's no access to a firearm for for anyone who shouldn't have one  they're brought into a secure entrance just like in any hotel their id is taken and they're identified and then they're scored to their room which would be held over here she took off and just running a hotel that's really all this is and  hundred thirty one it needs to be updated that's all we have here but note that that color it's a little bit brighter on another screen but that color is a secure area so that person who is being brought to doing with the good folks do every day that person is kept in a secure area away from anyone having their lunch away from any offices away from any potential weapons or creating at any hazards and to not they do not have the ability to bolt back out the door so it really is a way of building a lot of safety and security into a facility that really needs safety and security on the interior we renovate this floor the elevator the elevator ends up in this area there's a conference room that can be converted into an emergency operation center  be there is the squad squad roll call in squad room gets increased a little bit this patch stays here you won't lose your path you'll always know where to go to pay your traffic tickets they're still saying right there accessible entrance right through the elevator and up and i think that just says elevator a second means of grass the secure safe prisoner transfer i'm trying to speed up a little bit the upper floor we add a floor on the rear of the building we add roughly twenty five hundred square feet on the rear of the existing footprint of the building back you up here it's two stories back here it's currently one story we add a second story there's an elevator in the middle captain's office detectives get an office right across the way is ample evidence evidence ample evidence storage and this starts to look like this now this building is a lot straighter the lines are a lot straighter and cleaner than the d p w there it's a strong building with a lot of good bones and can last another eighty seven years if renovated properly and in the town center it makes a lot of sense to do that so that's the side entrance that's the sally port this is the addition in the back that the addition of the rear of it and all of that all of that addition is intentionally placed on the rear of the building to preserve the facades and preserve the historic center of the of in belmont  click ok there we go so that is looking at the rear of the building what used to be overhead doors now windows up high to let light into the locker rooms and the rear of the building looks like that the side of the building looks like that you can see the grade so this is that slopes down to the new garages here there's a railing up there because it's parking up on top of that component and here we start to see pleasant street that's the entrance in concord out that the access down to that real portion fitness lockers storage garages the ranges here if we go up a little bit the fitness is still there with the mezzanine level really storage mezzanine up here go up a little bit and we come in the front door traffic and tickets and just get another ticket dispatches over  is on the outside detectives are there with the evidence storage in this and there's an elevator in the middle and it starts to look like that as an overall building and i think that's where we are so i hope that was clear and i think that's right thank you mis thank you mr go on to the next three speakers will be expressing their support for this i would ask each of them to be very brief mike smith thank you mr moderator michael smith a tell me member of precinct six member of the building committee and member of the histor commission naturally the historic district commission is it pleased to see this program matic opportunity to preserve this historic police station the great example of georgia revival architecture with both one hundred thirty one and was designed that underwood of the famed underwood billman family building is listed as an important historic resource by the massachusetts historical commission but the preservation of this  is not the reason they were asking for your approval tonight on this committee we've been searching for the best ways to address the current and long range needs of both the police department and the d p w as you see we've found a way to solve the long range needs of the police department with the added benefit of preserving this important historic asset finally we have the opportunity to use to see a long term solution for the police department while at the same time assuring that it's building will continue to be integrated with both the is storage district and with the important historic telling complex moving forward we expect to be mindful to make certain that designing construction details for both the building and the site contribute to the beautiful character of our town complex while at the same time meeting the long range needs of the police department i'm very thankful to all of my colleagues on the building committee everyone has brought meaningful and important contributions to the process we're thankful to jay mar for their creative and thoughtful approach to funding the project and finally we are as especially thankful to the leadership of our committee chair and marie m i think everyone right away identify yourself j director of public works good evening what is being presented to you tonight is needed public works has fifteen different functions that provide a variety of labor intensive work we do construction instant keep of our water sewer and storm water systems we are the mechanics for over four hundred pieces of equipment where the town's landscapers pool operators tree cutters we maintain two cemeteries we plow snow and we sweep streets public works works we do a lot of dirty work that this is vital to our communities health safety and comfort and we don't have a shower when i first started here in belmont almost three and a half years ago my predecessor peter casanova told me that one of the things that he wished that he could have accomplished before you're tired was to get a new d b w facility that the department has needed for forty this work was mostly done by the highway department crews assistant director mike santoro was one of them after about one year on the job what is being presented to you tonight is needed it works operationally and immediately addresses the deficiencies that we have like a suitable bathroom for both male and female workers suitable lockers suitable kitchen eating area suitable office space suitable resting area this also gives us the time needed to focus on the long term solution of a new d p w facility in ten years like i said i want to thank everybody and please vote yes for these improvements both of these improvements thank you of the men and women of the belmont pleased as well for being the professional group that they are and for continuing to provide the level of service they do to our community operating from a building that is extremely inadequate edge of steam and an inefficient for a modern day pleased bob i would also like to thank all the members of the public and the tom meeting members that took the time to come through the station on the tours to actually see the present conditions of the building and also how constrained we are due to lack of suspicion sufficient space as many of you have seen on the tours we have a beautiful lobby  that was as was noted that was a minor renovation from one thousand nine hundred five but once you go through and behind that door you go into another area and i can tell you that's not a good one as far as the present police station as  stands i truly believe it has served a community as best it could for the last eighty seven years unfortunately i also believe that the present facility has not kept pace with the changing times safety needs technology or the additional space needs of the department to have occurred over the last eighty seven years when i was hired by the board of selectmen back in two thousand and seven we had a discussion at that time they asked what i thought about the department and what i thought was needed at the time i explained to them that i felt as a community we needed to reinvest in the department and a good start would be to look at the present building itself since i felt then as i still do today the building although our classic is as i mentioned previously extremely inadequate and not operating a safely as it can be i should be as inefficient and safe police facility for the members of the public the employees or as ted mentioned i guess the present police station when it was built in one thousand thirty one at a workforce of thirty two one male police offices today in two thousand and eighteen we have forty one police police officers of which seven female officers we also have three special retired officers along with ten civilian members of the public safety communications division as well as for full time civilian employees or civilian packin control offices one thousand civilian crossing g and twenty one members of the exalted police unit we are lucky they don't all come to work at the same time i believe you have heard from a number of people tonight by i would just like to reiterate a point that has been made the original charge of the committee was to look at three glaring deficiencies associated with the building and see if that was possible to have those deficiencies corrected one the lack of an elevator in handicap access to the second floor risk management and what that entails those three items alone that were mentioned a major risk factors and if not addressed appropriately they could have very detrimental and costly impact on the t i also believe that it is a good business model if you provide your employees with a good and safe working environment they will be happier employees and in turn more efficient and productive i'd like to share with you one of my initial meetings with ted i expressed to him that not only am i the department head but i'm also a taxpayer and i really don't want the town to be spending good money and putting in a good putting it against something that we won't get a good return on to walk to my amazement when i walked into the first public meeting ted looked at me and said she if you're not going like what i have to say i said to him what's that and he explained as you mentioned a little while ago the buildings got good bones so i said to him show me and again as i said earlier my ad is off to bed because what you saw i never thought was possible ladies and gentlemen i truly believe what you have seen and heard tonight in reference to the anticipated and much needed safety improvements along with all the other work to be completed on the police station site once completed will again us as a community to have a facility that we all can be proud of again as was mentioned eighty seven years ago by chief chen i would ask for your support of this article and the project on behalf of not only the present man or woman of the  those that will come after them for many years in the future thank you