Date: Fri 27-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Town-Hall-South-Cascella

Full Text:

Cascella Seeks To Trim Cost Of Town Hall South Renovation

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Town officials are considering ways to hold down costs while renovating Town

Hall South, the office building at 3 Main Street that houses the town's police

department, land use use agencies, park and recreation office, health

department and building office.

First Selectman Robert Cascella said Wednesday he met with architect John

Madzula on Tuesday to review ways the town can hold down expenses while

improving the building which formerly served as a farm equipment dealership.

"It looks like he's found a few cost savings measures," Mr Cascella said of Mr

Madzula's review of the building improvement project.

Bids for the proposed renovation project had come in much higher than expected

in September. The low bidder, Clearheart Construction of Bethel submitted a

base bid of $758,000. Eight alternate proposals for the project brought the

total cost up to $893,385.

The other bidders were Filinski Construction of Shelton which had a base bid

of $838,400, and $904,714 with all the alternate proposals. The Hawley Company

of Danbury submitted a base bid of $888,000 and an alternate proposal bid of

$945,000.

Town offcials had hoped the bids for the work would come in at around

$500,000.

Work proposed for Town Hall South includes improving the building's exterior

surface, correcting drainage problems which have led to interior flooding

problems, adding a pitched roof, installing new windows, and enclosing an

existing parking ramp and an open area beneath it.

Mr Cascella said he plans to meet soon with Legislative Council members Joseph

Borst and A. Winthrop Ballard to discuss how the town can hold down costs on a

Town Hall South improvement project.

"It depends on what you do and what you don't do," Mr Cascella said of

cost-cutting measures.

Mr Cascella said he would hope to hold down improvement costs to somewhere in

the range of $600,000 to $700,000.

The entire building needs subsurface drains installed to correct drainage

problems, Mr Cascella said. "We want to do the project right," he said. He

pointed out the complexity of the drainage work, noting the large difference

in elevation between the front of the building where the police station is

located and back of the building where the land use offices entrance is

situated. Although the police department on the top story of the building is

built on a single level, the land use offices on the bottom story have ramping

within the building.

Mr Cascella said that after discussing Town Hall South improvments with Mr

Borst and Mr Ballard, he hopes to bring the matter to the selectmen for

action, after which the improvement proposal would be submitted to the

Legislative Council for action. If the selectmen and council approve a

building improvement plan, it would be submitted for action by voters at a

town meeting.

If approved, the improvement work could take eight to twelve months to do,

weather permitting, Mr Cascella said.

Installing a brick veneer on the building's facade would hold down long-term

maintenance costs on the building, he said. The wooden siding that now clads

the buidling is badly deteriorated.

To hold down costs, aspects of the project such as planting shrubbery could be

eliminated, he said.

The town may be able to shift certain elements of the project to its regular

budget, Mr Cascella said.

Mr Cascella said he doesn't expect the improvement project will need to be

rebid. The town could select to do certain elements of the work for which bids

already have been submitted, he said.