BOS Voice Concerns About Impact of Higher Amphitheater Cost on Robinson Broadhurst Funding Amounts
At the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, February 28, Town Manager Justin Sultzbach reviewed the dilemma created by unexpectedly high bids for the construction phase of the Winchendon Community Park amphitheater project. He asked the Board to authorize him to contract with the low bidder for the project, City Enterprise, Inc., since the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation committee had agreed to increase funding for the project to $3.8 million, which would cover the cost. (see "Bids for Community Park Amphitheater Project Come in Unexpectedly High" in the February 17-24 edition of The Winchendon Courier) Several members of the Board raised concerns about the impact this would have on Robinson Broadhurst's available funds for other needs, and the Board ended up taking no vote on Mr. Sultzbach's question.
"The Winchendon Community Park Amphitheatre Project went out to bid last month with results coming in higher than anticipated," Mr. Sultzbach told the Board. "This was in part due to fluctuation in costs for materials and labor created by the COVID-19 pandemic. And so as a group, the Winchendon Community Park Committee met with the architects and engineers and myself, crunched some numbers and determined they were about $800,000 short, needed to complete the project as it was designed."
He explained that the possible options were to redesign a scaled-down version of the project and send it out to bid again, or get additional funding. "So the first method, some drawbacks are that you are paying the architect for this redesign, so you're already losing some of your savings right off the bat, and you're postponing going out to bid by three or four months allowing prices to continue to escalate for another three or four months. And then after all that, you have no guarantee in terms of what's available for contractors to actually do the work," Mr. Sultzbach said.
"I did have a meeting separately with the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation and they showed their continued support for the project. There's about $3.8 million is the anticipated total project cost. $2,282,000 is actual construction costs, the other costs are soft costs, about $400,000 for architectural and engineering fees, $340,000 for the OPM and a buffer of about $285,000 for contingency. So after that conversation with Robinson Broadhurst Foundation, I'm happy to report that they did graciously agree to increase their grant award to $3.8 million which will allow us to go forward with the project as designed, on schedule." Mr. Sultzbach added that "the next lowest [bid] was about $3,115,000, and the highest was $4,386,000, just for perspective."
If the Board approved the contract, the project can start earthwork in the spring as soon as the frost goes away, Mr. Sultzbach said.
BOS Vice Chair Rick Ward asked if there were any other factors besides pandemic-related inflation in costs for materials and labor that caused the project cost to go up.
Mr. Sultzbach said, "In honesty I could probably list a dozen or more that had smaller impacts, that one had the largest impact overall, and we're experiencing it in every project that's going out to bid right now, not just us but pretty much every community around the world is seeing this impact. Other issues that I'd point out, I always hate to be a Monday morning quarterback, but I think the project probably sat for a little longer than it should have" due to the departure of former Town Manager Keith Hickey and the six-month tenure of interim Town Manager Steve Delaney.
Mr. Ward said, "My only other concern is, we are going to aggressively stay on the budget and protect the contingency if we can. From my library experience, with that project, even though we have an Owners Project Manager, somebody within Town Hall needs to be watching what's going on on that project on a daily process, or things can fall in the cracks, and this thing can get longer than it's supposed to be."
"I do intend to watch it like a hawk," Mr. Sultzbach promised, saying he wanted to get the amphitheater done before work begins on Old Murdock.
Selectman Barbara Anderson said, "I do appreciate Robinson Broadhurst increasing the funds to $3.8 million, that's incredibly generous. I think what I want to do, is make sure, that while they're increasing for the amphitheater, we won't be decreasing in any of the other generous gifts that they give the town...I think I'm just spinning on whether this is the best use of funds."
Selectman Amy Salter said, "I agree with you, Barbara, and then it concerns me, you know, everything just keeps increasing and increasing...it's gotta stop. We need to...lock this in. Because we could be stuck, and it could be never finished, because we don't have the money to finish, that concerns me."
Mr. Sultzbach said he shared their concerns. "Thankfully, now that the bids are in, this is a hard stop. So I know there have been a lot of soft figures that have been tossed around for several years now, now you know. That is what it costs. And it can't really increase. The contingency is enough to cover realistically anything that they could hit there unless they find a buried nuke, around the property, so the costs we're going to run into aren't going to exceed that. In terms of the way the funds are used, it's a little bit of a Catch-22, because we don't really get to determine how they're used. That's a unique aspect of this project, there's kind of the theme of that running throughout since I got to town. At the end of day, it's Robinson Broadhust had some additional funds, and they wanted to make a splash in the community. But we don't really have much control over, we have limited control over that, we can certainly voice our opinion on it. But...it is what it is in terms of their intentions."
Ms. Anderson said, "I think I would feel better if you could look at me and say, they will not take away from what they usually award the town, and we will never use town funds for it. That would make me feel a whole lot more comfortable."
"It's their checkbook, so I can't make that commitment," Mr. Sultzbach said.
BOS Chair Audrey LaBrie asked if Mr. Sultzbach could talk to Robinson Broadhurst about the possible impact of the amphitheater on other funding requests.
"I intend to feel it out," Mr. Sultzbach said. "So, typically, I've already run the numbers, and it fluctuates year to year, depending how they do on their end in terms of stocks and other items, but typically it's around about a million dollars for townside contributions or a bit under. That said, we do have some requests on there, things like a request for Old Murdock for example, where we attained funding far before we had a design for the building. And so there may be some built-in crumple points there, where we can kind of fall back on and pull the reins back on some things that we have prematurely received funding for, that we would have no way to even expend the funds in the next year, anyway. And so those are some things that I am exploring to try and lessen some of that hit."
Mr. Ward stated that "Robinson Broadhurst is an amazing organization for this town" and he felt the town couldn't question a gift--either say yes or no.
"I don't think anyone's questioning Robinson Broadhurst at all," Ms. Anderson said, as Ms. Salter voiced earnest agreement. "We are eternally grateful for everything that they've done." But, she went on, she hated to think that some of the "life changing" benefits to the town might not be possible this year. "I'm looking at the practicality of amplifying the amphitheater," she explained. Mr. Ward and Ms. Salter mentioned that the property would have to be maintained down the road.
"It's a piece of property that's going to have ongoing things that can be done," Mr. Ward said. "But again I get back to, this is too late to have this discussion, because the project's already underway."
Ms. LaBrie asked, "is it too late? On this project, to say, thank you Robinson Broadhurst, we love you to death, but we're going to see if we can bring this project in at a lower price?"
"It's never too late," Mr. Sultzbach said. "I guess it would be kind of a mix of things, so--one is, in terms of totally walking away from the project, a pretty decent amount of funds have already been expended, design fees, OPM fees, as well as staff time. In terms of bringing the project back to the drawing board and trying to reduce it, part of the issue is, that the costs of some of those items kind of is what it is. So a lot of it's earthwork. That cost, you can't really scale back, it's grading and things like that. It's the same reason it's costing more and more to pave a road every year, because you can't find somebody to jump in the excavator and that can operate the equipment. And so they're being paid a premium for their time, people can kind of name their price. So the things that you can scale back on are the actual physical infrastructure.
"So they have a stage with an awning, some built-in stonework steps, street lights running down the property, electric conduit running in the road. Those are things that you can scale back on, so you could get rid of the street lights, for example. But now we have people walking down a dark sidewalk under the tree line at night. You could scale back the stage, but even, the majority of the cost is having the contractor actually come out and mobilize. So even reducing the physical size of the stage, by ten percent, you're saving on materials a little bit, but they'll still have to physically do the work, they're just building a smaller one. And even then, if it's going to take three or four months, you're still paying for the redesign, and still have escalation over the next quarter or half of a year." He added that contractors were busier in summer months, and even if a new, scaled down bid was done, it wouldn't guarantee a lower estimated cost.
Ms. LaBrie said, "perhaps if you could try to get a sense from them, what effect this additional money here may have, if any, on our regular requests, our annual requests, and get back to us, that would give us something, anyway."
Mr. Sultzbach said, "So, just so I get my marching orders straight, so I will reach out to Robinson Broadhurst and just confirm that there won't be an impact on what they're originally--if this project didn't exist, that it's not having an impact on what they intend to award in other areas in town this year. If they confirm that's the case, is the Board good with moving forward with this contract? And then if it's not, come back and discuss it? Is that an accurate depiction?"
"In my mind, I personally would say just move ahead with this project," Ms. LaBrie said. "Find out what, if any effect it will have on other areas in town, and then, I know our budget, the general budget is not, there's no fluff anywhere, but then perhaps look for other sources to kind of back-feed in. Whether we find anything or not, I don't know."
The discussion ended without a motion being made or a vote taken to authorize a contract with City Enterprise, Inc.
Senior Center In-Person Attendance Remains Low While Duties Continue to Grow
Winchendon Council on Aging Director Sheila Bettro provided an update on the Council on Aging and the Senior Center to the Board of Selectmen at their meeting on Monday, February 28, discussing assistance, clients, and attendance, and those depending on necessary services.
Bettro said, "We have fully opened, however not a lot of the seniors are coming back, they still do not feel comfortable." Bettro provided current fiscal year data, seven months into the fiscal year to date (July 1, 2021 through February 28, 2022). The number of meals provided totals 13,122 combined between both congregate and home delivery meals, with all delivery duties over the seven month period coming to 13,712 miles. Additionally the COA provided 443 medical transportation assistance runs, and 14 shopping runs. A continental breakfast is served daily. Bettro also said that the COA is also starting to see a lot more medical assistance runs due to increasing mental health and depression issues.
Currently resumed after pandemic related cancellations are bingo, peanut auction, yoga, and Medicare Counseling on Mondays and Tuesdays. Also open are the food pantry and clothing closet. Bettro credited Bethany Bible Chapel and Cornerstone Church for really stepping up and assisting with food drives. "It's just been so rewarding to have them out there doing that for us," Bettro said. Bettro also announced that on Sunday, May 1, there will be a musical "Celebration of Life" in memory of residents of Winchendon, Templeton, Royalston, Ashburnham and Gardner lost to COVID-19. The event will be held at 2:00 p.m. in the G.A.R. park next to the Senior Center, and include live music and other entertainment, with a rain date of May 15. Additionally, the Winchendon Artisan Lodge of Freemasons will be providing a ham dinner for the elderly at the Senior Center on Sunday, April 24.
Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Rick Ward complimented the "Meals on Wheels" program, saying, "As a resident who lives in a 55 plus community in town, I see the Meals on Wheels truck every day as it goes to several homes regularly. I think what's important is that the driver who does Winchendon also takes the time to chat with the seniors, and from what I hear in the community, they probably enjoy that more than the meal. Somebody takes the time to do that, and that may be the only person they at that home speak to during the day, so I applaud the driver you are sending out." In response, Bettro spoke of drivers' relationships with elderly clients and recent actions taken by drivers to help beyond delivering a meal, including installing a lockbox with a house key at a 93-year-old lady's residence to be able to better assist her as needed.
Selectman Barbara Anderson also complimented Bettro's staff at the COA for going the extra miles and all the adjustments they have had to make during the pandemic, and asked if there was anything Bettro felt the town could do more to assist with those adjustments. Bettro explained the Senior Center has only a single phone line, and the addition of an extra phone line at the Senior Center and COA would be a great help, as she has had to give her personal cell phone number to the majority of their clients. "I have always had my cell phone in my back pocket in case somebody needed to reach us and couldn't get through," Bettro said.
In a phone call with the Courier, Bettro explained that meals are delivered at this time to 74 residents on weekdays, Monday through Thursday, with 110 meals delivered on Fridays for those who want additional weekend meals on the days the COA is closed. Sheila Bettro is the COA's only full-time employee. Part-time employees working to assist seniors are Meals on Wheels driver Artie Amenta III who works 30 hours per week, dispatcher Cindy Knight, at 25 hours per week, van driver Joesph Bettro, who puts in 25 hours per week, and kitchen staff Jennifer Niejadlik who also works 25 hours per week. Niejadlik is backed up by her dedicated volunteer assistant Rita Amenta who contributes 20 hours per week. Working for the COA as General Staff is Art Amenta, at 12 hours per week on paper, but who is well known to be there a full 40 hours a week serving his community as a dedicated volunteer. There are also multiple others who donate time when available for the good of their community.
Asked what she felt could be one of, if not the, greatest challenge down the road for the COA with a gradually increasing elder population, Bettro replied, "Transportation I see as one of biggest challenges down the road. We can provide the meals as we have a state of the art kitchen, and our building is clearly large enough to continue to grow into. However transportation is increasingly becoming a greater challenge. We already have to turn some elders away who need transportation assistance. You can have one person at a doctor's or medical appointment you dropped off or have to go pick back up, and they can be either stuck waiting for you, or late, because you have others whose appointment times do not always go as planned. I really think transportation in the future will be one of our greatest challenges as we will need more drivers and transport vehicles."
Nationally, mental illness and depression have significantly increased during the ongoing pandemic, which is now entering its third year. As early as May 4, 2021, ten months ago, a National Poll on Healthy Aging performed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic by the University of Michigan found that 19 percent of older adults experienced more severe depression or sadness than prior to the pandemic shutdown of March, 2020. The report also stated, "Rating mental health as worse now than 20 years ago was more common among those who rated their physical health as fair or poor and those with an annual household income less than $30,000."
A senior is defined as any person aged 55 or older. Currently per the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Winchendon, with a total population of 10,765, records 2,410 persons aged 50 to 64 (22.4 percent), 971 persons aged 65 to 74 (9 percent), and 622 persons aged 75 and older (5.8 percent).
The COA and Winchendon Senior Center are located in the Old Murdock building at 52 Murdock Ave, Winchendon. It is open Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Fridays 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and can be reached by phone at 978-297-3155. Online, its webpage on the Town of Winchendon website includes the COA monthly newsletter, calendar, menus and more at www.townofwinchendon.com/council-aging. The COA Facebook page is www.facebook.com/oldmurdock.
Seven Citizen-at-Large Members Appointed to Community Preservation Act Exploratory Committee
At the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, February 28, Town Manager Justin Sultzbach offered his recommendations for members to be appointed to the new Community Preservation Act Exploratory Committee.
"As you may recall the Board of Selectmen authorized the creation of a Community Preservation Act Exploratory Committee at a recent meeting," he recapped for the Board. "This committee will hold three public forums to occur in March, April and May in advance of Town Meeting. Should Town Meeting support this initiative, the Committee could continue to meet through a ballot vote in November of 2022. As described in the meeting, this Committe would be comprised of four standing committee members from the Finance Committee, the Historic Commission, Recreation Commission and Conservation Commission. Five seats would be reserved for citizens at large for which we've received seven applications. There is a breakdown included in your packet. One was added last night/this morning.
"For the Finance Committee, we have Adrian Guerrero, for Historic Commission James McCrohon, Recreation Commission Debra Bradley, Conservation Commission Lionel Cloutier.
"For the Citizen at Large seats we have seven applicants, Marc Dorwart, Adam Gardner, Tammy Paul, Amanda Phillips, Pam Smith, David Romanowski, Joe Rosa." Mr. Sultzbach said that the intention had been to appoint five Citizen at Large members, but the size of the committee was at the discretion of the Board of Selectmen; all seven applicants could be appointed.
"I went through those emails and some sent in their resumes, and there's a wide variety of experience for this committee, so I'm happy to see that," said BOS Vice Chair Rick Ward. "When it was going to be an even number, I was concerned. Now that it's eleven, if they can handle it, I don't mind having eleven on the committee. My questions about the committee, maybe this is [for] the Town Manager, says they'll be meeting once a month, beginning March, they'll be meeting, I thought it said various places, locations in the Winchendon community. So it's not going to be a set place like Town Hall?"
"Correct," affirmed Mr. Sultzbach. "The intention of this process is to cast as wide a net as possible in an effort to tap into areas of the community that may previously have felt unheard. So we're incorporating as many voices as possible. There are organically some existing public forums where this is going to be heard, so the Board of Selectmen meeting, obviously the Finance Committee, their hearing for the warrant article in advance of Town Meeting. So it's going to be discussed at length. The purpose of this committee is to host supplemental community forums, in an effort to bring out people who may have more interest in talking about that one topic rather than sitting through, as much as fun as it is listening to a pole petition hearing notice be read aloud.
"And with that in mind, the committee will be selecting what three forums they would like to choose so I imagine one would probably be in this room, one would probably be over at the schools and maybe a third could be determined. But I'd really like to leave that up to the committee so that they can steer this process themselves, and kind of have that discussion with the community as they see fit."
Mr. Ward, Chair Audrey LaBrie and Selectman Amy Salter all agreed with appointing all applicants. "The more people involved, the better off we are," opined Selectman Barbara Anderson. "I think that the variety of people that we have is good, and it's not cliquey, which is imperative. If they can work together, I would love to see this group work together and do what they can."
Ms. LaBrie said, "Once they have their first organizational meeting, I attended the first presentation that was made to a few of the department heads, Board heads, about it, I would be pleased to give them any input that I have from my perspective, if they need anything."
"That would absolutely be appreciated, thank you," Mr. Sultzbach responded.
The Board voted 4-0 to approve all eleven members of the committee. Selectman Danielle LaPointe was not present.
Positive News as Winchendon, Commonwealth, Continue Strong Drop in COVID Numbers
Winchendon continues to receive positive news based on strong data received by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, as in the past 7 days, Winchendon's 14 day COVID positivity average has significantly dropped from 8.50 to 4.98 percent, a number not seen in quite some time.
Locally, almost all surrounding towns in our ten town area realized drops, with only two towns increasing by mere hundredths of a percent. Ashby only two towns away from Winchendon remained largely unchanged, rising from 5.43 to 5.45 percent. In the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District, Westminster continued with positive news, lowering from 8.06 to 5.00 percent, and partner Ashburnham dropped 7.86 to 3.13 percent, over a 50 percent reduction. In the Narragansett Regional School District, Templeton decreased from 7.29 to 5.04, and Phillipston, still the highest in the area, reduced from 12.82 to 9.84 percent. Gardner also realized a continued welcome reduction, going down from 5.11 to 4.47 percent. in the Athol Royalston Regional School District, Athol dropped slightly from 8.18 to 7.92 percent, while Royalston increased by the slightest of margins from 2.82 to 2.90, only up 0.08 percent. Hubbardston, which borders Gardner, which borders Winchendon, realized a large drop from 7.92 to 3.62 percent.
Over all, ten town area surrounding Winchendon has now dropped in the last three weeks from 10.86, to 7.02, to 5.45 percent, down a strong 50 percent in 2 weeks, and an additional drop of 33 percent in just one week.
Numbers across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts continue to yield similar results. The Massachusetts 14 day COVID-19 viral positivity testing average registers at 2.32 percent, with Massachusetts now realizing a 7 day average of just 1.80 percent. The only towns still testing high in positivity in the current Mass DPH update are mainly located in the northwest corner of the Commonwealth, one of the two longest identified clusters in Massachusetts.
In Winchendon, all vaccination numbers, while picking up a few residents in each age group, remained unchanged from the prior weekly report in important youth age groups for school populations. The age group of 5 to 11 years old remained 21 percent fully vaccinated, and 24 percent partially vaccinated. Children ages 12 to 15 also remained unchanged at 41 percent fully vaccinated, and 45 percent partially vaccinated. The teen age group of 16 to 19 year old individuals remained 46 percent fully vaccinated, and 52 percent partially vaccinated.
Winchendon, listed by the Massachusetts DPH with a population of 10,785 residents, also remained unchanged in overall vaccination numbers, yielding for the second consecutive week 6,011 of its residents or 56 percent fully vaccinated and 6,740 residents or 63 percent partially vaccinated.
In closing, the Town of Winchendon Board of Health continues to recommend if one is not yet vaccinated and is healthy enough to do so, to please become vaccinated. If you have any questions, please have that conversation with your primary care physician, or a certified health care professional. Scientifically and biologically proven by all medical data, the longer people chose to remain non-vaccinated, the longer COVID-19 has another chance to find another biological human host for additional mutations. It's not just proven with the current viral pandemic, but throughout global world genetic history.
Keith Kent
Chair
Board of Health
Town of Winchendon
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