WESTERLO — Most of the way through a meeting meant to air public concerns and comments on a town facilities project, Supervisor Richard Rapp said a petition to put a $2.75 million bond resolution up for public referendum was probably inevitable.

Questions flowed June 16 during the two-hour meeting from the audience of about 45 residents. At least one resident said he'd already signed a petition. Its organizer, Tracey Lawson, declined to comment. On Wednesday, town Clerk Kathleen Spinnato said she hadn’t received any petitions.

Representatives from Delaware Engineering and Aline Galgay, the town board’s attorney and bond counsel, took questions that focused on the costs of replacing the town highway garage and renovating Town Hall and on their maintenance. Both buildings are on Route 401.

As they did at the previous town board meeting, a few residents chided the board for getting together without public notice when it toured the buildings with engineers, and for holding an informational meeting only after the board had passed a bond resolution authorizing the borrowing of millions of dollars over 20 years.

Plans and plans

The engineers presented conceptual plans of the changes and made available a list of tax assessments so residents could inquire about what the projected cost to the average taxpayer — $99 more each year for a parcel assessed at $1,418.34 — would mean for their own properties.

Armed with a budget, the engineers proposed reconfiguring the town hall to have the town board and judges take their seats on the stage of the main assembly room, which was the gymnasium of the former elementary school. Bathrooms would be made accessible to people with disabilities.

Currently, offices for the court clerk, judges, and State Police, as well as the courtroom, are all housed next to the highway garage. Space at Town Hall now used as a kitchen, a supply room, and an assessor's office would be converted into offices for the supervisor, the supervisor's clerk, and State Police, according to the conceptual plan. Across the hall, where the supervisor now works in a large room with his clerk, a wall would separate a meeting space from the assessor's office.  More parking space and a sidewalk would be added outside, along with a second driveway to manage cars exiting and entering.

The conceptual design for the new highway garage shows 8,800 square-foot building would have five bays with a series of side rooms for parts storage, a break room, and an office for the highway superintendent.

The new building, heated in three separate zones, is expected to be much more energy efficient, with rigid foam metal siding and roof panels, and it will have its well relocated outside of the building and its parking lot repaved.

When questioned about ongoing issues related to water damage in the Town Hall ceiling, insulation, asbestos, and a door that drags on its cement steps, Frederick Grober of Delaware Engineering said such things are accounted for in the $2.75 million budget and would be addressed.

Several residents pointed out that the county's salt shed, which sits behind the town's highway garage, had contaminated nearby residential wells with high sodium levels, which Galgay said had to be resolved with water filtration systems at those homes.

Grober said he was aware of the issue, but the well at the highway garage hadn't been tested yet to see if treatment is necessary. The well now inside the garage will have to be moved out, he said, in order to comply with health-department regulations. The $40,000 budgeted for the new well accounts for the possible need for a filtration system, he said.

“My suspicion is we're going to be a lot less than $40,000 when we’re done,” said Grober.

Mary Beth Bianconi, senior project manager for Delaware Engineering, stressed that the process is just in the beginning in Westerlo, and the budget is planning for the “worst-case scenario.”

“Once we do design, there will be a very detailed, many-page cost estimate,” she said.

The project hasn't been designed yet for bids, and the money hasn't yet been borrowed.

When resident John Sefcik asked whether engineers looked at the cost of replacing the town hall, Galgay said the grant money used to purchase the building may have been based on the historic nature of the building.

The local fire company is in need of a new building, too, Chief Kevin Flensted told the crowd. Much of the fire company’s budget depends on an allocation from the town, which contracts for emergency services.

Jack Milner, a farmer and former councilman, suggested the town sell the town hall to the fire department and build a new one for less than the cost to renovate it.

Thomas Hoyt, highway superintendent in Windham, addressed the crowd during the meeting since his town recently replaced its highway garage, of a similar size to Westerlo’s, using Delaware Engineering for its design and planning. Hoyt said the tax increase per $1,000 of assessed property value that resulted from the project is about $20 a year.

Acknowledging a petition for a referendum was submitted on the Windham project, Hoyt said it was late and nearly half of its signatures were invalid.

Part of the Windham project's cost was helped by an injection of savings from the town, Hoyt said, but Supervisor Richard Rapp has said such reserves aren’t available in Westerlo.