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Madison Arts Barn Roof Debate Continues

After concerns were raised last month over a change in project scope for the Madison Arts Barn roof replacement project, Board of Selectmen (BOS) members continued to debate the issue on May 8, trying to determine how much of the roof can be replaced under the current budget limitations.

The Arts Barn, which is home to—among other things—Madison Cable Television, has been in need of a new roof for at least four years. The roof was first slated for replacement in fiscal year 2013-’14 under the former LOCAP program, which became the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), for $85,000. After numerous bidding issues and review by an architect, the project to replace the roof was finally awarded to Streamline Roofing Services, LLC, in December 2016 for $89,000. At the time, only $75,000 was designated in CIP for the project and was approved with the understanding that a special appropriation would likely been needed to cover the full cost.

However, at the BOS meeting on April 10, former BOS member Joan Walker, who stepped down from the board in December 2016, brought the project back into the spotlight. She said while she thought the contractor and the project had been settled, she noticed via an ad in this newspaper that a new request for bid had been issued for the Arts Barn roof.

First Selectman Tom Banisch said that a new request for bid had been issued because the initial bid approved in December 2016 exceeded the funds designated to complete the project. Banisch said he wanted to see if there is a way to get the project done under budget.

The Arts Barn roof has sections that are flat as well as a slanted section. In late April, nine bids came in for just the flat portion of the roof, ranging from $22,936 to $56,450. Considering the new prices, Banisch said he would be happy to replace just the flat roof to see if that fixes the leak problem.

“I am no expert and anyone will tell you that water can do anything at any time, but if we did that flat roof for $23,000 and didn’t have any problems anymore…I’d be happy to wait until we save some money up and re-budget the whole thing,” he said.

Selectman Al Goldberg said he was still uncomfortable with just moving forward with the flat roof portion considering that the board had previously been told the whole roof needs to be replaced.

“I haven’t heard any expert opinion that only a partial roof replacement needs to be done,” he said. “I still feel that we budgeted for the whole roof and we approved doing the whole roof and I haven’t heard any information that would tell me that we should only do part of the roof.”

Banisch said his rationale to replace just the flat roof at this time is that he doesn’t want the project to go over budget in a time of fiscal uncertainty in the state.

“I am trying to avoid a special appropriation, I am trying to keep this in the amount of money that we have, and I am trying to get more information that will tell us if we can do that” he said. “…I would just like to explore our ability to do this within the amount of money that we have given that we still haven’t heard anything from the state relative to what is going to happen with the budget.”

The BOS discussed the bids and, considering the price of the low bid, some board members wanted to see if the new low bidder, Rivers End Construction, could be negotiated with to do the whole project and still bring it in under budget.

“This lowest price came in very low relative to what we had been told before so Mike [Ott] and I talked about the possibility of bidding out the side roof separately and seeing if we could get a lower price on that and still come within the budget,” said Banisch. “What we did with the Strong Center buildings is we basically said to the bidders, ‘Here is our number, you have to come in under it…’ If we can go back to these people and say, ‘Here is our budget, see if you can come in under it’ ...then it is up to them to let us know if they can do it with what we have.”

Town Director of Engineering Mike Ott said Rivers End Construction is a reputable company, but he is concerned with the idea of turning down the initial bid for the full roof from December and then trying to negotiate with the new bidder to now do the whole project.

“Canceling the project and just going out for the flat portion is OK, but now to try to negotiate to bring the steep slope portion back in, I am afraid there might be some fallout,” he said. “I think it is fair to say that is not typical practice.”

Banisch said he would discuss the plan with town counsel, but said he just wants to see some progress made.

“If we fix the flat roof, at least we stop the leaking and then we figure out how to get the rest of it done,” he said. “We have to stop the water from running into this building.”

For the people who work in the Arts Barn, getting the whole roof replaced is the preferable option. Friends of Madison Youth Board Member Joe Walker said volunteers have been bailing water out of that building for years and while they are excited that something is moving forward, volunteers would rather the whole roof be completed.

“When Tom [Banisch] pulled us all together as a board and told us a contractor had stepped forward and offered to do a partial roofing job at a lower cost, we all sort of jumped on it and said ‘Thank goodness we might be able to focus on something other than the roof,’” he said. “But as we stepped back a little and looked at our responsibilities as far as stewardship for the building and the kids and their programs, we realized that we would like to speak out in support of the full project as originally approved by the board with the understanding that will likely involves some sort of special appropriation.”

For now, Banisch said he will speak with town counsel and then return to the board with a more concrete plan for moving forward.