Town clerk’s office: renovate or move?

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The Granville Town Clerk's Office at 42 Main Street.

After having a brief assessment completed by Lamont Engineers in October to find weaknesses and necessary changes to be made with the building, the Granville Town Board agreed to consult with Harrison Steves to get a reasonable quote on repair rates for the town clerk’s office.

Built in 1891 with renovations and additions occurring from 1912 to the 1940s, the town clerk’s office is in need of an overhaul.

The issue at hand is the board only allocates $10,000 a year for renovations.

The top three concerns, structural improvements requiring steel support under the first-floor office, replacing a boiler from 1957 and electrical improvements on the first floor, establish a ballpark total of just under $80,000.

“If we’re going to do this, let’s put us ahead 50 years instead of catching up from 50 years ago,” board member Jim Bradt said. “I say we move forward with options to fix this building.”

“The options that we have are, we try to fix what we have or we go to look elsewhere,” said Supervisor Matt Hicks.

Board member Ken Quick liked the idea of moving into a new building rather than renovating.

“I don’t see the need to spend half a million dollars on it,” Quick said.

Board member Matt Rathbun said the desperately needed repairs are the only option of getting the building up to code as long as the town continues to operate at 42 Main Street.

“This building is perfect. You want to improve Main Street, who better than us?” Rathbun said. “Even if you move, there’s still maintenance that you have to do.”

Hicks said the town will apply for whatever grants can be applied to their situation but that the town cannot put “all of its eggs in one basket.”

“The two issues that we’re going to have that we’re going to need help with are A, somebody to do those things along those lines, and then B, as I wrote you (the board) in an email a third of the works is going to identify the problems, make list of materials, get a list of bidders, get specs together, send the specs out to the bidders, help them get the whole process going,” Hicks said.

If Steves agrees and provides a reachable price, Bradt and Rathbun will be the two board members monitoring the process and communicating with Steves on issues that need to be addressed as they come along.

Additionally, Lamont Engineers in their 12 points of improvement packet included a roof replacement and concerns towards the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as focused issues.

“Given the age of the roof, the potential exists for asbestos insulation and other asbestos materials to exist in the roofing system,” Lamont Engineers wrote. “The town hall does not have an ADA compliant bathroom.”