[Roberta Cameron]: All right, I am calling to the meeting of Medford's community preservation committee. On Tuesday, October 8th, 2024, 630 PM, we are meeting hybrid. Some of us are located at the Department of Public Works building, 21 James Street, and some of us are meeting via Zoom. And the meeting will be recorded and made available as quickly as possible after the meeting. So, with that, thank you to everybody who is here. I apologize to everyone who is in the room with me. It's kind of a very strange setup where the camera and the screen are here and you're all behind me. So I apologize for my back. So, I, the 1st order business will make this the last order of business to review the meeting minutes from the September 10 meetings. So we can jump right into talking with the. The people who come here to give their presentations. So, the, the. The presentation just to give a format for everybody who hasn't. Attended these meetings before we have. Many applications this funding round, so we've broken them into 2. We're going to be seeing the presentations over 2 different evenings. So, half of you are here this time and half of you will be coming to the meeting in a couple of weeks. And we're so each person is going to each person who's presenting this evening is going to give about a 3 to 5 minute presentation, followed by. by Q&A with committee members. So that's what the format is going to look like. Just as a follow-up, after we have these two meetings to hear all of the presentations, the next step is that the committee is going to meet again in November, December, to deliberate on which are the projects we're going to recommend funding for, what are the conditions that we might place on these funding recommendations, and then this committee's recommendations are going to be sent to City Council, who has to approve the funding recommendations, and then the grants are awarded. So that's what the process looks like all together. And with that preamble, I'll just invite our first applicant to come and introduce their project. That looks like it's Amanda Centrello going to talk with us about the Riverside Plaza shade structure. Thank you.
[Amanda Centrella]: Thank you, Roberta. Hi, everyone. I know most of y'all, but for those who don't, I'm Amanda Centrella. I work in the city's Planning, Development and Sustainability Office. And if it's okay with y'all, I'd love to share my screen just to give you guys some visuals as we talk. Awesome.
[Theresa Dupont]: That you did. Cool. So get myself oriented here.
[Amanda Centrella]: And There we go. Alrighty. So yeah, first application I'd like to talk about is Riverside Plaza. So this application is the scope of which is to cover a couple of things envisioned for the plaza. Just to give a rough overview, it would include a water fountain slash bottle filler to be installed in the plaza, as well as shade sales to create some shaded areas in the existing patio area and some decking, low decking to go over an adjacent lawn area. And I'll show you guys some pictures just to kind of orient ourselves. We applied for a state park grant and we were just told, I think, maybe a week or 2 ago that we were awarded that grant, which is really exciting. So this application is for CPA funding to act as match to that awarded grant. Just to orient ourselves, here is the existing plaza. It's actually a very lovely space. It is used all the time by folks, especially in the shoulder seasons of the year when it's a bit more temperate. But what we are proposing to do to add to the site is to address an issue that we've observed in particular during the summer, which is that as constructed, there is not a lot of shade or really any shade within the existing patio area of the plaza. If you can see my cursor over here. And so what folks will do, understandably, is move the mobile chairs and seats into this adjacent lawn area over here that has some mature tree canopy. So a couple of pictures. This is on the left, the lawn area that I was referring to, where folks oftentimes are moving seats to sit. And here's on the right, the existing patio. So we have a couple of treatments in mind, as I mentioned on the left hand side, the shade sales, which would cover part, but not all of the Plaza, because it's also very nice to be able to sit out in the sun on the more temperate parts of the year. So spring and fall, which we see a lot of people do. And we are considering or applying for funding to provide a low deck, which would solve a couple of problems that we've noticed in the way that people use the adjacent lawn space. And I'll get into that in a second. just a little bit closer up on sort of where the shade cells are. These are concept drawings. This application is for, would go towards both final designs. So we would have an opportunity to sort of refine and finesse designs a bit, and then also implementations of construction. And just sort of a concept rendering of what those shade cells could look like. This is the deck area. So, here's the existing area that folks use and as you can see, it's really hard to maintain the grass in this area. Just the level of traffic that it gets in the dragging of furniture back and forth. And to the extent that it's sort of kind of expose some of the tree roots that are there. In addition to that, if someone wanted to be able to use this existing shade, there's not an accessible route from the pathway to where this is. So you'd have to go off of the path and kind of traverse uneven ground. So we are thinking about this low deck system because it would provide an accessible pathway to this new area underneath the trees where there's existing shade. It's a nice spot. I actually sit there a lot if I'm grabbing something from the square, food and stuff. And we would have some mobile seating and some light bollards, which you can't see in this rendering, but perhaps placed at the far end of the deck just to shed a little bit more light in this area in the evening. And they would be in the same style as the existing light bollards. Okay, so yeah, a couple of just examples of potential furniture, including the water fountain and and slash water filler. And just a quick overview again of the funding for this project. So the park grant that we were awarded is just shy of $200,000 and our CPA ask is for about $144,000, which would go towards match. And this is for both final design of this space as well as construction. So I will stop the share so I can see people, and I'm happy to bring any of those images and things back up as we talk, but I'll open the floor now for questions.
[Joan Cyr]: I have a question. Hi, Amanda. Is there any reason why you're not putting one of these shade sails over the performance space?
[Amanda Centrella]: I think there's an opportunity to look into that. I'd have to ask the designer, but I think we wanted to make use of some of the existing... There are some permanent furniture, like mounted tables and chairs that are in those other areas. And we didn't want to also obstruct views of the stage, although I don't think that that would be too much of an issue if it were over the stage area.
[Joan Cyr]: Yeah, I was watching the Oompa Loompa guys playing at Oktoberfest in the sun, and it was hot. So I just felt bad for them, yeah. I wouldn't say move one of them. I'd say you need an additional sale, you know, because you're right. You do need some coverage on that deck. Gotcha. I like it. I like the step up, too. That's nice, because you're right, that grass is all dead.
[Amanda Centrella]: I wasn't clear. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I was going to add. I can't remember if I mentioned that the deck is permeable. So water can infiltrate down. So it would protect the tree roots and allow water to get to the soil.
[Roberta Cameron]: Just a couple of comments 1st, I. Regarding the sale over the performance space, there's a park that I'm familiar with that I believe has a performance space and it has a removable sale. So they can put it out and remove it or put it back in case it's in the way. So I don't know whether that could be something that would be hard to accomplish here or add a lot of costs to do something like that or be hard to maintain. But the thing that I wanted to mention was, and I talked with you about this a little bit earlier as well, I have heard of other places where they have installed boardwalks in parks like this and then had a problem with it creating rat habitat because the rats like to find, they like to find a place to burrow underneath the boardwalk where they're protected. So I asked colleagues about how to prevent that situation and what they suggested is that there be So I wrote it down like a steel gauge mesh installed in the soil under. So like remove a little layer of soil gently so it's not to disturb the tree roots and then install steel gauge mesh under that and then put the soil back in the boardwalk and that prevents them from burrowing. So I can provide more information about that later, but I would want to take that into consideration. It seems to be a problem that occurs in a lot of places where boardwalks are installed for this very reason because of the heavy usage.
[Amanda Centrella]: So yeah, I would be very interested in. Yes, if you would share that information as it comes in, would definitely love to consider that with our designer.
[Roberta Cameron]: Are there other questions from committee members? Great. Well, thank you, Amanda, for that project. And next, I think you're still up to talk to us about the car park renovation final tranche.
[Amanda Centrella]: That is correct. So I'm going to share my screen again. Oops. Yes. Great, so I bet most of you are familiar with Carr Park, the renovation going on there. Quick recap, the visioning process was funded by CPA funds, and so we have you guys to thank for this incredible vision we have for the space. Phase one is substantially complete. So that was pickleball courts, which were CPA funded and get a heck of a lot of use, baseball diamonds, loop pathway around the field, as well as some periphery areas and a formalized pathway from the park to Stowers Ave. So all of that work is substantially complete. And now we are moving on into phase two, which actually includes a lot of really exciting stuff. It is currently out to bid. And this includes new playground, dog park, two basketball courts, one of which would be covered by a shade structure. And on that shade structure would be solar panels, which would power other features in the park, such as a small splash pad. There'd be a mini skate park, a kind of teen area with some tall swings and an adult fitness area. So, just to sort of orient ourselves a little bit, the scope of phase 2 includes these 2 areas of the park that the smaller circle is the dog park area and the larger circle, which will zoom in on is along Winslow Ave and has a lot of those other exciting features to. So over on the left hand side here is our playground area. There'll be both a two to five area and a five to 12 year old area, as well as the splash pad. We've got two basketball courts. One will be covered with the shade structure on the left there. And then the one on the right will be also striped for street hockey. We have some shaded seating areas, so there'll be a small shade pavilion on this in this area that has seating and charging pedestals, which will be powered in part by the solar panels. And over in this zone, we've got the mini skate park and adult fitness area. And I just want to give you all a quick rendering of the mini skate park. We worked with Spawn Ranch, which is a very reputable skate park design firm. and talked to a number of folks who are skaters in and around the area during our tabling sessions last fall and winter about what they kind of wanted to see in this beginner-friendly space. A quick overview of the funding situation for this project, so there's 2.5M dollars of ARPA funding dedicated towards this. A federal earmark through the Department of Energy for a million and a half. And a land and water conservation grant that was awarded to us for 1M dollars. A little shy of 300,000 dollars of linkage funding has gone towards this project, particularly toward design. And so our ask is sort of the final mile. in helping us implement this for a little shy of $150,000 from CPA. I'm going to stop sharing my screen, but I'm happy to go.
[Joan Cyr]: Actually, don't. Can you go back to the rendering?
[Amanda Centrella]: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Let me see. Sorry about that.
[Joan Cyr]: No, it's OK.
[Amanda Centrella]: Share back here. All right. So yeah, any particular picture, Joan?
[Joan Cyr]: That one. So what I want to know, and I can't really tell from this, is in the current situation, in the current setup, there is that tot lot. And it says dogs not allowed in the tot lot. But it looks like there's a pathway that goes through. Would that be accessible by everyone? That's not part of the tot lot, right?
[Amanda Centrella]: So you know what I realized? So we have this concept drawing is a little outdated from our final design and maybe I can pull up something. I have some very detailed construction documents which I'd be happy to share with the committee. They're just a bit messy to look at. But the way that this is actually finalized is the two to five area, our top lot area is over here as opposed to the five to 12 and it's entirely fenced off. Okay, so it will not be able to be accessed by people unless you're going in through the gated area. Okay. The five to 12 area is up here. In that we were told by kids in particular that they kind of wanted like a free flowing feel between the play area and the park in the fields, I should say. So it's partially fenced off in areas I think along here, but otherwise like relatively open.
[Joan Cyr]: The walkway around, which is a really good place to walk the dog. But then to get back out to Winslow, this path that we currently take is going to be covered by the basketball court. So I'm looking for a path to get from the walkway back out to Winslow.
[Amanda Centrella]: It is here. So we've got this through way path. It's like the main entrance to the park and you would walk through here and it connects to the loop pathway.
[Joan Cyr]: Okay, and also I think there's a new, there's a new sleigh of e-bikes that are there that are not in use, right? So that'll be, I don't know exactly where those are, but yes.
[Amanda Centrella]: They are over here. I helped site them with Todd Blake, who's our transportation director. They should be about over here and they won't interrupt any of the pathways and like connections planned for this stretch.
[Joan Cyr]: All right. So I know you said you're out to bid. What's the estimated timeline of this construction finish, I should say?
[Amanda Centrella]: That is a million-dollar question. This is just a rough estimate. So take it with a grain of salt. We're going to learn more when we get more back or get bids back from the contractors. and all of that. But my guess is that we are going to start building or breaking ground early spring of next year. And I would estimate that this type of project would take between a year to a year and a half beyond that. So I think we could see, let's see, so spring of 2025 we start, so then maybe end of 2026 Yes, yes, and I should say that the fields and the loop pathway, we have made clear in our bid documents. Those need to remain open to the fullest extent possible through that entire time. Since we'll be blocking off, you know. A lot of the, a lot of the, you know. All of this area during construction, there might be a period where see if I can go back to the larger. As I mentioned, we'll also be doing the dog park in phase 2 and so there might be a period where we need to create a temporary pathway around this. But we will that is the intent basically to ensure that there is a pathway around that all of these facilities remain open during construction.
[Joan Cyr]: Nice. Okay. Thanks. Of course.
[Roberta Cameron]: Other questions from committee members? Looks beautiful.
[Ada Gunning]: What's that? Just a comment. Looks beautiful.
[Joan Cyr]: Yeah, one other question. Are there water fountains all around? I know there's one near the pickleball courts.
[Amanda Centrella]: Yes, there's one.
[Joan Cyr]: There should be something near the dog park. Yes. Something we could, you know.
[Amanda Centrella]: Absolutely. So there's going to be, I think it's three more fountains. So we have one by the pickleball courts over here, if you can see my cursor. One will be in the dog park, a little dog bowl filling station. There will be... one by the shade structure with seating underneath, and one by the basketball courts.
[Joan Cyr]: Oh, good. And by the way, the city fixed the one that's by the pickleball courts because it had no water pressure. But I was there this weekend, and it's flowing very nicely.
[Amanda Centrella]: Thank you. Yes. We had an issue where they had to turn the irrigation system off, and they accidentally shut off an important valve that was deleting the pressure to the water factor. So thank you to you and to others who flagged that for us, because that would have been a shame.
[Joan Cyr]: That's true.
[Amanda Centrella]: Thanks, Amanda.
[Roberta Cameron]: I'm curious how to learn more about the debris removal that you did up in the upper end of the park. Can you speak more to that? And is it done?
[Amanda Centrella]: Yes, so we focused the majority of the debris removal kind of around here. And it involved, yeah, it was actually, oh, I wish I could send you guys some pictures. It would probably take me too long to find them because they're buried, but there's some really fascinating piles of concrete slabs and marble slabs. Sorry, granite, not marble. You know, old sort of construction debris from the city. It was actually very sizable. They were pulled very early in the project. So I want to say the majority of that work was done in the fall of 2023. And I'm tempted to just look and see if I have a photo.
[Joan Cyr]: Yeah, I'm curious. I think there was fairly a good amount of trash in there, too, besides the construction debris. Yes. I remember seeing a bike in there during one of the cleanups. Several gas grills. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
[Theresa Dupont]: It was definitely a very interesting experience.
[Amanda Centrella]: If others have questions, I will look while if anyone else wants to ask a question too.
[Joan Cyr]: I have one other question. Wasn't there in an early design a walkway that was going to go through that foresty area? Whatever happened to that?
[Amanda Centrella]: It is. The Stowers Ave connection, is that what you're referring to?
[Joan Cyr]: Yeah, I know that one. I wondered if there was one that was going to go through that whole thing, even over to the other side down to Winslow.
[Amanda Centrella]: Wasn't there something? There's a pump truck that's kind of planned for a later stage, obviously different from a walking path.
[Joan Cyr]: Yeah, that's what it was. That's what it was. OK. Yes.
[Amanda Centrella]: So yeah, that is not included in this scope. But we talked to our designer a little bit about how to approach that. And they'd recommended kind of going with a firm that sort of specializes in that, since it's like a very limited scope. And there is a NEMBA grant that we could apply for in the future to do that work.
[Roberta Cameron]: Okay. If this is already out to bid, how is the CPA funds being plugged into the budget?
[Amanda Centrella]: Yes, so I had wanted to recommend that if this were to be funded with CPA funds. So this is the budget that I laid out is for sort of construction administration design as well as construction. And I think a tidy way to do this, although we don't have to, would be to direct those funds towards construction administration. Which is a very valuable service, especially for a project of this size and scale. So basically would go towards our landscape architect and all of their team of sub consultants who would be meeting with us regularly and with the contractor to kind of keep things on track, address issues as they come up through the entirety of the project. And that contracting could happen later than the bid the construction contracting which would be kind of working on that contract for a while and then like early next year could contract with the design firm for their construction admin services.
[Theresa Dupont]: And if you're still looking for that photo, I'll I'll fill in some dead air here. I really love that the work that you've been doing with pulling out some of those salvageable debris. boulders and then repurposing them around the city, like at McGlynn where we were today. You've brought some of those boulders over there. I know you plan on bringing some over to Logan Park for that playground area. So I love how resourceful we're being while also cleaning up a site that very much needs cleanup. So I'll just go on the record. I'll put it in the minutes. I love it.
[Amanda Centrella]: Thanks, Teresa.
[Joan Cyr]: I second that on the boulders. They're wonderful, especially down those that the stores have that was good down there. Yeah.
[SPEAKER_13]: Yeah, I don't have anything substantive, but I think it looks awesome.
[Unidentified]: Yeah, great perk.
[Amanda Centrella]: Thank you guys. Yeah, I sorry. There's like 30 pages worth of photos for viewing, but if you want to share that with me, I can get it to the committee. Okay. Maybe that would be a better use of your time. I will certainly send over what I find to you all. Thank you.
[Roberta Cameron]: So thank you, Amanda. If we have nothing else, are you? Oh, no, you're not on the next. Yeah. So that's that's all that you have for us this evening. So thank you very much. Thank you. And I will move on to the next presentation that we have, which is for the Unitarian Universalist Church exterior restoration. Liz Ammons and Joan King.
[Theresa Dupont]: And we're graced with the physical presence of our applicants. So it's up to you. We were thinking if you wanted to stand at the podium and then present to us, just tell us a bit about your project wherever you're comfortable. But I think with the technology we have in the room, we would need you to be closer to the team. Yes. So whatever you're comfortable with. It's actually this little doozy hickey right there. It's got a 360 camera so you can.
[Ammons]: Several people have been good enough to wrote letters for us to offer to come. John Anderson from the Medford Historical Society and Museum. He's the president there. So I want to be sure that they have time to make some comments. chair of the board of trustees at the Unitarian Universalist Church. I want to give her the chance to say a couple of things. I'm Liz Ammons. This is Joan Keane. The two of us wrote the, am I on camera?
[Theresa Dupont]: You can look up there if it's quite all right. Don't worry about it. But you are on camera. Okay, great. And at home, Joan, Ari, can you hear us well? Okay, perfect. Okay, great. So,
[Ammons]: Let me start off by just talking a little bit about what we are applying for. We're applying for the CPA funding to do restoration on the two major exterior walls of the Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located on High Street, a block from the library. It's a major historic landmark in the city, right on High Street in the center of the square. So we're applying for money to re-shingle two walls, the western wall and the north wall, and then some certain places on window frames and some wood that needs attention as well. In the grant, it's asked what is the benefit of this building to the community and to the city. Here, I think we just want to highlight three things that we think are really important. first, and they aren't ranked, but one is it's a tremendous benefit to the city as a historic landmark of architectural merit. The building is an 1894 Gothic Revival structure in beautiful shape in a prominent location in the city, designed by an MIT-trained architect, a renowned And we could go on and on about the architectural importance of this building in the visual landscape of Medford and our effort in the city of all of us to preserve historical buildings. The second thing is its historical importance as for its cultural history. So it's not just a building. It's also a building that stands for long history in Medford and important history. The Unitarian Church traces its origins directly back to the first church in Medford, the Puritan Church in the 17th century. Its current incarnation is really different. from the Puritan church. They would be appalled at what we believe today, as we in ways are appalled by what they believed then. But we are the direct descendants. And this is the fifth building that this church has had in Medford, and the third one in this location. So this cultural history includes that narrative of a religious faith institution in the city and the evolutions that has gone through and includes a lot of important figures in Medford. David Osgood was one of the important ministers in the Osgood House through CPA Grant is now a beautiful historic landmark in the city. A number of the members who attended the church, Lydia Mariah Child, an advocate for Indian reform, for women's rights, a fierce abolitionist, George Luther Stearns, also an important abolitionist who, I'm going to get a drink of water. Abolitionists who, among other things, was one of the secret six who backed John Brown, and Stearns was the recruiter of the famous Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the first black regiment in the United States Army. Danny Farmer was a member of the church, different kind of fame, and we could name other people down to Eugene Adams in the 1960s, who marched with Dr. King and Selma, and wore overalls when he preached until the the workers in the great fields of California were able to get unionized. So the church has an important social history and cultural history and actually social justice history, which it carries on today in its advocacy for people in the city and beyond the city who often are dealing with difficult, difficult issues. The third thing that I'll mention, and then I'll stop, is the importance of this church, this building, as a community resource right now. It is used, it's been used for over 27 years by the Community Covered Food Pantry, which is open every single week on Thursday nights, and has been for all those years, serving people in need who are dealing with hunger. And it has several 12-step groups in the church. Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, a community orchestra meets in the building. Contra dancers are in the building. Tai Chi is in the building. So it really is used by, it's not just a church. It's actively used by many groups in the community for ongoing kinds of things like that, and also for one-off things. In fact, CPA had a lovely celebration in our social hall in the building, which we were honored to host. So for these reasons, we think that it's a worthy applicant for CPA grants for its architectural importance, for its cultural history, which is really important, including its present activity in the city and for its service to the community as a building that's open for people to use. So I'll stop with that. We are applying for 90,000 dollars. Cedar shingle is very expensive. It is very expensive and it's gone up year by year. We, the church, has been a wonderful steward of this property and maintained it. It's slate roof. Had the granite tower taken down and repointed. The window was taken, the huge window facing High Street was taken out and completely redone. We put in the proper kind of vented plexiglass to protect stained glass windows. So it's not like the church has done nothing. We've done a lot. We're an active church and we're not a rich church. So we need these funds to complete this last step of restoration to bring the building into really sound shape so it will not deteriorate. So that's what I would
[Theresa Dupont]: I'm happy to pull up photos, by the way, onto the screen. I don't know if that would be helpful for the committee members and the folks in the room.
[Joan Cyr]: Sure.
[Unidentified]: Joan, you had a question.
[Joan Cyr]: Yeah, so I'm looking at pictures of it right now on Google Maps. You said you were going to redo two sides. So is it the front triangle part where the big stained glass window is and then down on Powder House Road?
[Ammons]: No, no, that is fairly recently done. There are a few shambles that need to be replaced, but that's in good shape. It's the western wall and the north wall. The wall that actually faces our parking lot is very visible from Powder House. And the western wall, which is less visible from the street, but is crucial to the integrity of the building.
[Joan Cyr]: Oh, yeah. So, the West and the North side parking lots. Okay.
[Roberta Cameron]: I just want to comment that I really appreciate the effort that you put into the, the history and the storytelling of the church. Being able to tell the story about the significance of all the locations that we find, I think, is an important goal that we have. And so that's very helpful that you've filled in some of that.
[Theresa Dupont]: I'm scrolling too fast or slow.
[Roberta Cameron]: Other comments, questions from committee members?
[Unidentified]: Comments from the public?
[John Anderson]: Good evening. I'm John Anderson. And of course, the Historical Society recognizes the importance of this building I don't feel I can add anything to what Liz has already so aptly described about the history. I'm actually speaking more as the owner of an 1880 shingle house. And I've lived there for 40 years. I can tell you that these issues need to be addressed. They cannot be ignored. When you see that level of problems, you know it's only a matter of time before it goes beyond into the sheathing and you get just, the problems just escalate. We had to have a major portion of our house reshingled in the same manner a number of years ago. So I just want to stress the importance of this getting done in a timely manner. Thank you very much. Thank you. John, if we could have your address for the record, I'm so sorry. Oh, 102 Brooks Street in Medford. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_13]: I'm Lori August, I'm chair of the Board of Trustees at Unitarian University's Church of Medford. And I'll just emphasize, we often talk about us being a historical church and church as a community, as a community asset. And just to emphasize that for 300 years, we've been a very vital, central part of the city of Medford for those many years. In order to continue that legacy, we need a secure building by which to meet, by which to share our resources with the community. So it's just important that we take care of the building for its historical reasons, but just so that we can continue doing what we do in the community.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Roberta Cameron]: Is there anything else that we need to ask or hear about this project? Well, thank you very much for coming out this evening to talk with us, all of you.
[Unidentified]: Appreciate it for your application.
[Theresa Dupont]: I promise you'd be out of here before 830.
[Roberta Cameron]: All right, then we will move on to the next project on the list, which is city hall restroom, 88 upgrades.
[Theresa Dupont]: Nick, you're up. It's actually all Paul is all is online. Paul, if you can hear us, we are prepared to hear the application. Thank you so much. So, Paul. There he is, okay. Oh, there's something. Something is... Paul, you're muted.
[Paul Righi]: Yeah, sorry, my laptop's giving me issues.
[Theresa Dupont]: No worries, if you wanna stay off camera.
[Paul Righi]: As you can see.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yeah, if you wanna stay off camera, you can just speak.
[Paul Righi]: Yeah, everything is giving me issues tonight on this laptop. I think it needs to go away.
[Unidentified]: All right.
[Paul Righi]: So we are at a point at City Hall. Most of City Hall doesn't meet ADA compliance anywhere. But one of the big issues is our bathrooms, especially with not only staff that work in City Hall, but the public that come into City Hall. What we need to do is start renovating our bathrooms, not only bringing them back to how they looked when City Hall was built, but also keep in mind that we need to become ADA compliant for all the residents in Medford that use City Hall, whether it's to see city departments or for school board meetings. or city council meetings, or any events in City Hall. Over the years, I think they have tried to do renovations in bathrooms, and they were not done successfully. I had a vendor in when we were having some issues, and just case in point, none of the toilet paper holders were even installed ADA compliant. In the bathrooms and it is kind of sad when you see that neglect that has been allowed to go on over the years and working with Francis and her office and Nick. We're developing a plan so we can start slowly but surely bringing our bathrooms up to current ADA code and bring them back to hopefully the beauty they were when they were installed. Luckily, most of the bathrooms still have the original marble and the original floors. But over the years, they haven't been taken care of. So we need to preserve those, bring them back, and put new fixtures in, and everything with a mind towards bringing everything back to ADA compliance. So what this money would be is basically seed money for us to start this project because our first thing we need to do is bring in an architect so we can develop that plan with the architect. and go forward from there and then over the years, because this is definitely not going to be a one-year project over the years. I envision probably three years that hopefully we can bring every bathroom in City Hall back to the way it should be and meet current ADA codes.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Are there questions from committee members?
[Reggie Graham]: I was just wondering, how many bathrooms are there? Are there six?
[Paul Righi]: There are eight bathrooms. There are four on the first floor, two on the second floor, and two on the third floor. The first floor, two of the bathrooms are staff only bathrooms. And they are technically the bathrooms that are large enough to be fully ADA compliant. So my feeling is that when we start doing this project, we will probably switch the focus of the staff bathroom and the public bathroom over, so when we make the bathrooms fully compliant, the ones that are currently staff only, which are the larger and can be fully ADA compliant, would be now become the public bathrooms. And when I say fully ADA compliant is the other two bathrooms on the first floor are not large enough for anyone in a wheelchair to access the bathroom and to be able to use the bathroom. comfortably and properly. By flipping them, we would gain the space so that we can have those bathrooms designed for any visitor to City Hall, whether it's staff, community member, or even outside the community that we know and are confident that they can use a bathroom if they require it.
[Reggie Graham]: Obviously, I'm not staffed.
[Paul Righi]: If you're looking at the stairway on the first floor, they're basically to the right and the left of that stairway about the middle of the stairway on either side of the stairway. They are hidden. If we do switch them, we will have to make sure we have proper signage up also.
[Roberta Cameron]: Okay, thank you. Thank you. I see Joe's hand first, so then I'll come to you.
[Joan Cyr]: So I'm looking at the and maybe Tracy, you can help me. I'm looking at the the drop box and the only thing I see is the application. I don't see a quote. I don't see anything else.
[Paul Righi]: The reason being is that if I start getting quotes from people, I'm held to 30 days, and then I have to go out and start re-quoting again. Plus, this is also, if it's over a certain amount of money, I have to go out and get three quotes. I can't just get one quote. Because anything over $10,000 I do as a city project, I have to have three quotes for construction. This is $215,000. What am I missing? Well, we have a house doctor. And a house doctor is we actually went out and quoted with architectural firms. So we have three architectural firms that are under contract for the city of Medford. So by doing that, I don't have to do a public bid for architectural services. But any construction work, I would have to wind up going out and do a bid process for that. And at this point, if I even ventured into that, it would wind up being null and void because those are only usually valid for 30 days after the bid process is over. So I would actually have to keep re-bidding it. So I'm not going, you know, that's why it's kind of getting quotes before we start a project is actually very difficult in this circumstance.
[Joan Cyr]: Right, but from our perspective. There's nothing here that proves that these cost 250,000. Maybe they cost- Oh, it's probably- And you're asking for 250. What I'm saying is- I'm going to tell you- You must have gotten something from these other contractors that you have on staff. So where's the documentation from them saying the estimate is?
[Paul Righi]: I can tell you that probably the whole project will be a million dollars. I'm a realist and the bathroom renovations are not going to be cheap.
[Roberta Cameron]: One of the things that I just wanted to point out in the packet that we received, the budget document I think was actually, it was overwritten by the Heckner Center budget document. Both of them said Both of them had the data for Heckner center, so we didn't see that the budget breakdown showing us how much was intended to be for design versus construction and your application. So, it's a little bit unclear, but I want to go through all of our questions 1st before. I address some questions. So. Yes, so.
[Frances Nwajei]: So I think it's important to address the difference between accessibility and ADA compliance. The city of Medford is not compliant, and that's just the bottom line. And these are state laws and state regulations. The three of us that are in this room submitting the application at this time are submitting them based on our experience. But none of us were here from the beginning to what led to this point. But as a result, under my role and my pet role scope, there has to be compliance. There has to be compliance in some way, shape or form, whether that means it's a loss of bathroom to create the surface area. Additionally, the way this works is going to look different. We're not going to be able to give you votes because the cost of supplies and things that are going to be needed, we don't even know what we're going to find. Paul and myself, prior to Nick coming on board, have actually been having this conversation for a year and a half. It's, who wants to peel back the curtain and go behind the wall? You know, we are in an unfortunate situation where I don't know who did the work previously, but what I can say is that is not how we do work. We also don't decide that urinals don't work, and so we cover them up with bags. And, you know, the whole point is to start slowly and start to create what is a basic human need, the right to use a bathroom for all people, of all cycles, of all abilities. As far as what is going to go into the bathroom, that is going to be determined by the architectural firm and whatever the ADA standards are at that time. As Paul said, I am mortified to know that I was in that building. Obviously, I don't use the men's room, but I was in that building for almost two years and did not know that the toilet paper fixtures We're not even put on properly. So we're dealing with many things here. It's beyond just even the bathroom. There are other aspects of this that one has to consider. There is 80 appropriate voting for lighting. There is high requirements for hand washing. with dimensions, and it's already been determined on one side that we're not going to need that. So I want, as we present this application, for you to put that into your minds. Yes, you have processes, but this is when you might have to think out of the box and see how those processes can work with the city's needs, because this is a city need. It's not a personal need. It's not a departmental need. It's a city's need to prevent something from happening that really should not happen. And it's going to take a long time because we, Paul said a million dollars and I just sat back and smiled because every single day the cost of supplies are going up. But I hope that we can start and I'm willing to do one and do it. That's just trying to do all.
[Roberta Cameron]: That is, I'd love to talk. I appreciate the urgency of this problem. There's no question about the urgency of it, but I think that what we are all concerned about is making sure that we approach it in a way that gets done as much as we need with the resources that we have. So, I think that's the spirit of all the questions that we're asking is to figure out what is the best way that the city's approaching their project.
[Frances Nwajei]: So, as the facilities manager for the city, Paul is in the best place and as an employee with a visible physical disability who uses the bathroom, I think that you have the lived experience. I'm just the ADA coordinator coming in from the government side saying it needs to be done and we need to figure out a way in which to do this. But beyond that, I would defer to the experts and I would weigh in on. If a variance is needed, because we just cannot make more service. But we need to stop somewhere to be able to get that ball moving in a more positive.
[Joan Cyr]: Roberta, this almost sounds like Gillis Park when they were asking for money to do a lot of things and we said we may need to take a step back and do a study of what actually is needed.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, I don't know what Gillis Park is, but there are many, many different tools that you can utilize. Again, it would not be us designing the bathroom, it would be Irreputable company bringing forward a design that is within the school.
[Roberta Cameron]: That's very helpful because actually that and what Mr. Riggi has presented to us this evening was not entirely clear in the application materials that you were looking at a process of having the improvements designed by an architect. So the process that you intend to use was not Clearly spelled out to us until this evening, so bear with all of our questions because we all want to understand so that we can all figure out how this is going to work.
[Ada Gunning]: Thank you 1st of all, I just want to say this seems like an obviously necessary and urgent project. So I appreciate everyone speaking to that. And again, I'll just say I'm newer to the committee. So bear with my novice questions, but. I assume this falls under our. Like jurisdiction in the sense that it's a historical building because otherwise we wouldn't do interior work in a building. So my questions are. Is city hall, like, an actual historical building hasn't gone through process. That's my 1st question. or is this kind of a loophole situation? And then my other question is, if that weren't the case, if this were just a city building that needed to be brought up to compliance, like what would Medford do if they didn't have the CPA to fall back on here? Like would we be using, like where would that funding come from? The only reason I'm asking that is because it does seem surprising to me being newer to the committee that this type of project would fall to us as opposed to a different funding stream. So again, bear with my like novice questions, but I just wanna, I'm just curious about that.
[Roberta Cameron]: To your first question, there isn't a loophole for determining that this is a historic building. They went to the Historical Commission and actually yesterday, last night, the Historical Commission made a determination that this is a historic building and they've submitted a letter to us with comments about the historic the historic merit of the building and the project and things that they would like to see incorporated into the project. And to the second question, that's... That's the story of Medford.
[Theresa Dupont]: You know, finding funding for these projects, and feel free, my colleagues who are on the call to cut me off here, but, you know, funding has always been a scarcity here in the city. With ARPA funding drying up, In 2 and a half short months here, it's going to become even harder for us to find funding, especially for historic preservation projects as my historic friends in the room can attest to finding funds for historic projects is exceedingly hard. So, in terms of it, if there was just a basic non historical city building out there that needed this compliance to be kept up on. I think that's some budgeting gymnastics that our facilities director has become very good at, but.
[Ada Gunning]: Well, since this project is going to be so expansive, it just seems like whatever we fund will be a. Portion of it, but that's just where I'm curious, like, where would Medford turn to for the rest of the project or what would Medford do if this didn't happen to be a historical building.
[Theresa Dupont]: And not to put you on the spot there, Paul, but if you had a.
[Paul Righi]: I think it's trying to find where those revenue sources are. If it now is the new stabilization fund that was just created by the city council. Any grants out there that may be available. I know I've applied with Francis for a grant for another aspect of City Hall for signage for ADA and also working with the school department. It's looking at any kind of funding stream. But because of the nature of City Hall and being in a historic nature, that's why I'm turning here for the funding stream, because I think it's quicker path to try to obtain some funding to start working on this. And sometimes when you start working on things, it's interesting how other funding suddenly becomes available because people want to see that project carried through totally. But City Hall is a beautiful asset to the city of Bedford. If we can do anything to bring that asset back, I think the residents of Medford would greatly appreciate that.
[Theresa Dupont]: I'm going to go ahead and share the budget again. I shared it earlier, but let me bring it up here. I apologize if it didn't end up sorted well in the Dropbox.
[Roberta Cameron]: So the total budget costs that's shown here is $250,000, with $100,000 being for this study and $150,000 for most urgent construction. With an understanding, and I think it would be helpful if this budget was an honest budget and showed a million dollars in the bottom right. Fair and that proposed source we don't know yet for the other $750,000. That would be, I think, help to clear up some of like this form completely filled out would clear up some of the questions that we came with this evening. And then the bottom part of this page would show that we have not yet secured The funding that's needed to complete this project. So, you know, keeping. Keeping that in mind, it is it's really. So, knowing that we're looking at a project that incorporates. A study and construction really sorts a lot of things out in my mind, because I was trying to figure out what. What does this bathroom look like and how do we know it's going to actually be handicap accessible, be compliant after completing the project. So, now that I know that you're talking about working with an architect, that's helpful. The question that I had was whether the city. Has performed an overall accessibility assessment of city hall. and what else you know where how does the bathroom fit in the context of what city hall needs to be ADA compliant and then does the city have a transition plan right now or is that something that we're working on developing a transition plan?
[Frances Nwajei]: So the city has quite an outdated transition plan with no supportive data that shows where the information 1 thing that needs to be addressed furthermore, as far as the compliance of the bathroom. So, when you look at basic human needs. Using the bathroom is a need that everybody has, right? We have 8 bathroom at city hall out of those 8 backwards. Only, maybe to closely meet any sort of accessibility support. We have staff that actually have to travel to other floors to utilize the back road. So it's just the beginning of addressing many things. City Hall is a beautiful building. However, the signage that we have is no longer compliant. We have signage that's built into the wall that technically should not be there. We're using colors. that are not supportive for people that have visual impairments. Remember, it's a city building. Everybody accesses City Hall. We have lighting that is now being addressed, but the lighting is out of code. What does that mean? We're using lighting that can trigger seizures, that trigger migraines for staff, lighting that can't be controlled. However, that has since been addressed through or correct me if I'm wrong, through the acquisition of the award of another grant. Correct.
[Unidentified]: Yeah. That's correct.
[Frances Nwajei]: So it's not, it's a, if you look at full accessibility, we're not even going to talk about ADA compliance. It is a massive undertaking. So you have to take it.
[Roberta Cameron]: Step at a time is what I'd like to understand. And so when we do the study, the architectural plan for this project, 1 of the things that would be very helpful is for that plan to include some bathing. So we have. Maybe what is the 1st year priority that we're going to address and then what is the 2nd year priority and so forth so that. Because obviously you're going to be working over the next couple of years at. Obtaining the funding that you need to complete the whole project, standing on the corner, holding out a hat. So what should we do to have, like, what is the plans for prioritizing? The order of operation to undertake that construction project.
[Frances Nwajei]: I mean, I would say that from from looking at this, the most important thing is the bathroom. That's where the most, but the most out of the 8 that we started, we begin. We started the 1st floor because that is actually the 1 that is utilized the most because people do do come in. So, we would be starting at the first floor and we'd be picking one of the accessible bathrooms to currently start the switch up. The reality is that we, again, it's going to be slow and steady because when we open up the curtain, we then it's what we are going to find behind.
[Roberta Cameron]: Thank you. There's some plan that I'd like to share with you. I can do this after that is for a totally different kind of project, but it's a historic, it's a plan for restoring a historic building. And what I really appreciate about it is how it breaks into high priority, medium priority. Projects to be done and explains, you know, why, why they're prioritized in that way. And to me, it's a really useful tool to assist a funding agency to be able to understand how we're approaching the project. So I'm.
[Frances Nwajei]: And again, I want to make sure that it's clear that much of this is also going to be determined by the study. Whilst you might be referring to a study, I'm only using I'm only interested in ADA-related agencies, either with the state or New England ADA Association, because this is not a business. So I need somebody who understands the constraints that we are under, right? If the square footage is the square footage, it's not going to change. So it would probably be the MOD coming in to help or the New England ADA Center. definitely does have to be a plan. It is when I was only thinking one bathroom. You see, you put the eight bathrooms in my head and now I'm feeling overwhelmed on one. But, you know, when I just think of just even one bathroom. It's deeply, deeply overwhelming because I have to see it every day. So I'm walking in every day and I'm seeing the issues and I'm seeing all the things that need to be fixed, many times that by eight. And then I see my police, I see guests trying to find the one that they need.
[Roberta Cameron]: So, this actually, this conversation is very helpful. Because the application again, does not clearly explain, you know, what is our goal. To complete with this 1st grant and if we make it clear that the goal is to. Complete 1 bathroom and the study. The is the architectural plan for. the architectural plan for everything, or maybe a concept plan for everything, and the detailed architectural?
[Frances Nwajei]: I think we would be looking at more of a concept plan, because whoever is going to come in is going to look at the spaces that we have, right? So Paul and I have our own ideas. I know the parameters that I need to meet legally. He knows the parameters that he needs to meet legally. And then you have the aesthetics that go off, you know, that will go into it. I know that it's very important that we preserve the historical nature of this, but at the same time, I have to think about the fact that these bathrooms are going to be here for a very, very long time. And in 30 to 50 years, people still need to be able to use them. And in 30 to 50 years, I will need more assistance, right? So these are all the things that we have to keep in mind and we have to balance out. I will leave it up to the study to determine. Yes, we will probably have a wish list, but I think that when the results come back, we will be very limited in what we can do if we want to get it right. Does that make sense? I think we'll be looking at All compliance, but very basic. Because think about it, you've got parents that come in with small children, and you've got three children, and you're trying to figure out how to get to the bathroom, but you can't get the chair to go in, and you can't open the door. And then you open the door, you've got to shove your carriage in there quickly. It's a lot. It's a lot. And I'm only going to think about one bathroom, because now I'm going to be overwhelmed. It's Reggie.
[Reggie Graham]: Yes. No, I was trying to listen to Paul. Did you say that you had an architect in-house?
[Paul Righi]: We don't have one in-house. But what cities and towns can do in Massachusetts is put out bids for what they call a house doctor. And a house doctor is an architectural firm that guarantees pricing for a certain amount of years to the city so they can then work on various
[Frances Nwajei]: So, it's not in-house, like, oh, let's say... So, my question, I've been listening all night, so I'm ready now. Be ready.
[Reggie Graham]: So, the question is, how much does this architectural doctor cost? How much does that cost?
[Frances Nwajei]: It's already built into a contract that the city has. So, it's not specific just for the.
[Reggie Graham]: So, could the bathrooms be included in that query?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes. So they, we could reach out to them. Right because they've already guaranteed pricing.
[Reggie Graham]: All right, so no, if they've already. Guaranteed pricing and so on and so forth is that included in the ask?
[Roberta Cameron]: No, no, so that's a rough estimate of what the architectural services.
[Frances Nwajei]: So, I think so the house doctor is a health doctor to the city. So, any city building that has an architectural need of inquiry. Paul, is it 2 firms or 3 firms that we have? He fell off he's back in there.
[Theresa Dupont]: I think it's 3. I think it's 3.
[Reggie Graham]: I have to understand because right now, I don't understand. Okay, because we, we funded projects. For other people besides the city that we're not, um. Including, like, a historical sets, if you will, so this 1 is a little bit different. It has a little bit different. you know, demographic. So I need to understand how we're going to proceed with this. So if we already have an architect, has the architect looked at this project at all?
[Paul Righi]: No.
[Reggie Graham]: So the architect.
[Paul Righi]: Sorry, my Zoom decided to just close. I told you I was having massive troubles with my laptop, and Zoom just disappeared while I was speaking. Maybe it just hates my voice. But no, I have not reached out to the architect yet, but once we get a semblance of this project, we'll go forward. Again, once I reach out to the architect, they're going to say this is the fee that's going to be associated with the cost. of doing that and I need to know that I have funding, whether in my budget, whether it's just for a visit or whether it's to go full force for coming up with drawings and concepts. I have to be very careful at this state if I do go out to any outside source for any kind of work that I have to get done. But as I was explaining with the house doctors, we have three different architectural firms that are under contract with the city. So any department can use them in the city for any kind of project they have and not have to go through a bid process.
[Reggie Graham]: Oh, I understand that. That's not the question I'm asking. The question I'm asking is, we don't know what we got. Okay, like you said, we haven't peeled anything off the end. So we don't know a doggone thing about what we have, except that we don't, A, we're not in compliance. B, you've never been to the men's room.
[Unidentified]: I've been in the women's room.
[Paul Righi]: I think we know we have some very terrible bathrooms.
[Reggie Graham]: We do, we do. Okay, but I think that, and this is just me, you know, thinking about a project that has to go along. We'd have to know exactly what we're looking to do. From an architectural standpoint, before we do anything, and I know you're saying that it's going to cost. X amount of money for the architectural firm to to even look at it.
[Roberta Cameron]: So, I do want to recall that in our previous project, we were able to very creatively address a situation similar to this, where there was an urgent need. We didn't want them to have to wait to funding rounds to fund the plan 1st and then come back next year for construction. So, for it was for Shiloh church, we awarded an amount of funding that was intended to include both the plan and. Preliminary funding for the most urgent construction, but and the way that that was structured, they had to the condition was that they had to complete the plan 1st, before they could. begin construction because the plan was necessary to identify what the construction was going to be. We didn't know exactly how much the plan cost, but in most cases, for most of the projects that we've done, whether it's open space or historic preservation, the applicants have been able to at least pull a number out of the air. for what the plan would cost. I mean, you did. You pulled a number out of the air, $100,000 on that budget form. But typically, they have some experience of having done similar projects in the past, so kind of have a ballpark. Or the on-call consultant might be willing to just give a rough ballpark estimate without it being a formal quote. So it would be helpful to know, roughly speaking, how, what is the share of that 250,000 budget that's planned versus construction?
[Reggie Graham]: And, you know, I can't, I can't disagree with you at all in that, because right now we have a hole in the ground, if you will. Okay. And we don't know how much it's going to take to Fill that hole, if you understand what I'm saying, but we, as a commission have to make sure that we take the proper steps to get to where we need to get to. And I'm pretty sure that we understand the urgency. We definitely understand the urgency. But with every project that comes to us, we still have a process that needs to be followed, if you will, so that we know that we're presenting City Hall, excuse me, the City Council with a very well thought out plan for use of the funding that we're going to suggest that Right now, I think we're missing that first piece. That's what I think. That's my opinion.
[Roberta Cameron]: A clearer project description is what we're trying to aim for. Not that we want to push back on you about the project, but we want to work with you to develop that clear description that we need to be able to come to a decision about the project.
[Joan Cyr]: Did you have something, Joe? We want to be able to stand in front of the city council and have them approve this. If we don't have any documentation or proof that we know the reasonableness and the somewhat accuracy of the amount of money we're requesting, they're going to send it back to us or say no. So we want to get to yes on that first try.
[Roberta Cameron]: Also, to Ada's point, the other thing is that we want to We know that this is the best source of funding for this project. So looking at the context and understanding why are we asking for CPA funds for this project and not a different funding source? A, maybe you will be lucky and find a quarter somewhere on the ground that you can put toward this project or. If you don't, it will be helpful to make the case that this is the best way to do this project. So there was one other thing that I wanted to address that I was able to read the comments that were shared by the historical commission last night. And one of the things that they stated was that given that the bathrooms still have the original historic fabric, the original marble that you mentioned, I'm curious to know what is the likelihood, and maybe Paul, you might best be able to speak to this, what is the likelihood, because I assume that everything inside the bathrooms needs to be rearranged, moved around. And a lot of the marble is damaged from time. and from things that have been removed and moved around in the past. What is the likelihood that the marble, say the stalls, can be moved and that marble be restored and be in a usable condition? And to what extent will that impact the cost of the project to restore the surfaces in the bathroom to, I don't want to, I'm not sure what word I'm looking for, so that they're not gross.
[Unidentified]: I totally understand what you're saying.
[Roberta Cameron]: Over the years, the marble stalls have been ravaged, and for the most part, they're gone.
[Paul Righi]: They do not exist anymore in City Hall. What we are left with, though, for the most part, is we are left with marble walls. And some bathrooms do have marble petitions left where they have metal, you know, the metal stall doors and frames around them. My feeling is definitely we need to try to preserve the walls to the best of our ability, fix them as much. There are ways to plug holes in marble and bring them back to make them look. The floors have not been touched in the bathrooms except for where things have been installed in them. We need to keep the floors and bring them back. If we did have opportunities to save marble stalls in any of the bathrooms, I would love to be able to do that. I'm not sure, though, as we go through this process, if the size of them would work in current code, even for non-ADA requirements. It's all, unfortunately, everything we do with a project this size is going to go to current plumbing code, any kind of code, not only ADA. So we have to look at that. But if there was a way that we could salvage and save some of the original, believe me, I'm a big proponent of that. Um, you know, I was working on a different project where some, you know, at for actually for city hall and somebody said, why don't we put vinyl windows in? And I just looked at them say, I don't think so. Um, so we. I hear what you're saying, and it's my mission to try to save as much of the original fixtures and beauty of that building as possible. I was one of the people that said, hey, I really think City Hall does need to be a historical place because I fear that somebody could come in as a mayor and say, I hate this woodwork on the second floor. I want to paint it. And if it's not registered, Technically, that can be done. So I love old buildings, and I love preserving them if I can and if it's practical. So this is our chance that, yes, if there are anything original that are in those bathrooms that we can save and preserve, that's going to be part of this project. It needs to be part of this, because that's part of the character of City Hall, are those marble walls. Go ahead.
[Reggie Graham]: Thank you. So, Paul, in the architectural rendering, would you advise that particular individual or firm that We wanted to reclaim as much as we possibly could, and they would include that in their in their assessment.
[Paul Righi]: Yes, yes, that would that would definitely be I would not take any suggestions of, you know. totally gutting the bathrooms unless it was somehow structurally, we had to do that. But I don't think so. City Hall, the way it's built, it's structurally sound. And so those walls, those floors, as far as I'm concerning, they're staying. And if we could even go back to fixtures that have that look of when City Hall was built and meet current codes, I'd love to do that, too, as far as sinks and, you know, toilets and anything else, lights. And if we could go back to what it kind of looked like when it first opened that building, I would love to get that look, as long as it was, you know, met current codes. And I've seen people do that in certain buildings where they've brought you know, the old look back, but with all the modern, you know, modern.
[Reggie Graham]: Because we've already determined that we only have two bathrooms that would truly fall into compliance.
[Paul Righi]: No, but I mean the look of, you know, a sink if it, you know, that has that style of from when the building was built and the light, that kind of thing.
[Roberta Cameron]: So, we share the same goal. That's that's the important thing is that I think should the committee vote to recommend this project will want to have a clear project description. It will be helpful if. we're able to back up with an understanding of why this funding source, and we'll want to perhaps include a condition that the original material be preserved as much as possible in the bathrooms, with an understanding that the dimensions of the bathrooms and the cost of restoration may be factors that we ultimately have to may affect our ability to meet that goal. But to the extent we can, we should look to try to do it.
[Paul Righi]: Not a problem for me.
[Roberta Cameron]: Thank you. This was a big discussion, so take a breath. And is there anything else that anyone wanted to add about the city hall bathrooms? Then we're ready to move on to the Heckner Center. Good for you. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here this evening.
[Reggie Graham]: Thank you all for having me.
[Theresa Dupont]: It's been a very long day up here. Been hanging out with you quite a bit today.
[Unidentified]: Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Not your jacket, right?
[Reggie Graham]: No, that was clear. Okay. Thank you.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. I'm not making any complaints. Come next week. I'm talking next week. I said we need to talk. Okay. Bye, everyone. We're just planting seeds.
[Roberta Cameron]: Okay, thank you. So let us hear about the Hagner Center.
[Unidentified]: You're up, Paul.
[Paul Righi]: Sorry.
[Roberta Cameron]: It's all right.
[Paul Righi]: The Hagner Center is, the city has received a grant from HUD to establish a resiliency center for the city of Medford. And so there are multiple departments working on making that a reality for the city of Medford. Not only will there be a resiliency center, there will also be a component of recreation there for after-school programming in the building. The Hagner Center, was found to be of some historic significance for the city of Medford. So the size of the grant, I am not sure, is enough for everything that is envisioned for the center. So what I was hoping is that we could have some funding to correct issues in the building that would be part of this body's charge, that we would then not have to rely on the grant and use that grant for other avenues like replacing the HVAC system, replacing the electrical system. So if we could use money to repair the roofs and repair the windows and repair the doors, that frees up money to then go to building systems and upgrading the building as we need for the resiliency center.
[Roberta Cameron]: Thank you. Questions from committee members?
[Unidentified]: How much is the grant? and 150 for the study.
[Joan Cyr]: So similar question to the previous one, where do we get these estimates from?
[Paul Righi]: The estimates are just based off of doing this for 25 plus years of buildings of different sizes. This one is kind of a moving target because it's still evolving. As we discuss this, new things keep coming to the forefront every day. But the things that do not change are the needs for the roof and the doors and the windows. Yeah, you know, that that is a stack. That's a stagnant thing and let, you know, but as we go on, you know, the costs can go up because if we go on for 2, 3 years as we're developing this.
[Roberta Cameron]: 1 of the things that I think will be helpful for this project will be if you can. define a more specific scope, seeing that CPA is a smaller portion of the overall project cost. And as you just mentioned, you see using it for some of the exterior restoration. Then if you were able to define the specific things that the CPA funds would go toward, that would be helpful for us to wrap our heads around it. OK.
[Ada Gunning]: I have a question about this. Sure. I don't know much about the Heckner Center, except that everyone seems to think that it is like a dilapidated building. And I guess to me, like the estimate of a million feels like it can't possibly cover the cost of what it will take. So I guess I'm just curious, like, is this like a first round of work on this building? Or do we really think that that's what it's going to take.
[Paul Righi]: Surprisingly, structurally, the building is in pretty good shape. It looks a little rough on the outside, but when you actually start looking at the structure of the building, it has withstood time, and I think it's basically based on the era of when the building was built. It was built to last, and it's structurally sound. The walls are sound. The floors are sound. So structurally, and so that's why, you know, if you're not putting a lot of money into the structure, it's, you know, the work is, less. If we had massive structural repairs in that building, then maybe we would have to look for other funding sources or do this in multiple years as it is we are talking there are two floors to the Hegner Center and we're only talking about renovating one you know the first floor and making that and then you know, going, having discussions on, okay, then where do we proceed with the second floor? And how do we then go, you know, how do we do the second floor? Where do we get funding for that? Whether it's another grant or, you know, proceed that down that road.
[Ada Gunning]: So this is all related to the first floor.
[Paul Righi]: Yes, for the most part, yes.
[Ada Gunning]: It's external to the building, but the vision is first floor first.
[Paul Righi]: Yeah, that was our vision when we walked through the building with the mayor and various other city departments was that we get concentrated on the first floor.
[Ada Gunning]: What's the elevator situation?
[Paul Righi]: There is none in that building.
[Ada Gunning]: Is that part of a future plan?
[Paul Righi]: That was not being discussed. One of the things we have to look at is if we are going to be required to put an elevator in, we may just be required to put a handicapped lift in. But if we're not using the second floor, then that requirement is not you know, does not apply, does not attach to us. But if we then, if we do suddenly decide to use the second floor, then yes, we would have to, again, figure out if, you know, to use any kind of federal money, you know, over a certain amount, you know, ADA requirements do start attaching, and then we would have to, you know, go to full ADA requirement. But we would have to make sure the handicap ramp is fixed and up to code that the front entrance has the automatic door openers and any offices created have to be the proper widths and everything for turning radiuses and everything else.
[Ada Gunning]: The press release that the mayor's office put out when they got the federal grant or whatever appropriations for this building, was the entire time the vision was to just use the first floor?
[Paul Righi]: No, that is something we're still looking at. I mean, there's probably 15 to 20 people in a room as we're talking about this process. We're still at the beginning phases of the process. So we haven't, as a group, come together, but there was strong indications from people that we may want to just concentrate on the first floor to ensure that we get everything that we need for what we say are the needs. And it's the resiliency center and for space for the recreation department. The second floor would be more offices. And, you know, other support services, which, you know, everybody was thinking that could wait. That wasn't the pressing need here. The pressing need was for the resiliency center and the space for the REC.
[Roberta Cameron]: It seems to me that the 2nd floor could potentially be a later phase, but then my question is, you know, before we totally plan the 1st floor, could the, the architectural study just provide a concept plan for how you could provide accessibility to the 2nd floor? I assume that. A Lula like we installed in one of our other project sites would be a solution for a building like this. But could that could a Lula be installed in the existing footprint or would you need to. expand the footprint to fit a lift to the second floor. So it'd be helpful to just have the answer to that question in mind before the first floor plans are all laid out so you don't have to. Reverse whatever you decide.
[Paul Righi]: No, and no, that's actually a very that's a very smart point. And that's actually a very smart way to do the work because you don't want to spend all this money and then suddenly decide, oh, we're going to have to lose 2 offices because we're putting. an elevator in because we have to meet ADA compliant. So yes, it would be something that I would be pushing that if there is future usage of the second floor, even if it's 10 years down the road, that a plan that's created for the first floor would encompass some kind of space or area that could easily become the access point for that compliance up to the second floor.
[Roberta Cameron]: Yeah. And I imagine that the other things that you mentioned, making sure that the entire first floor is accessible, that absolutely has to be part of this space.
[Paul Righi]: Yes, yes. We, you know, based on the amount of money that's being spent, it's, you know, full compliance would kick in. And I wouldn't do a renovation anyway without ensuring that we had that compliance anyway. I think nowadays you, you need to do that. It doesn't really usually cost you more money, but you, Win in the long run, if you, if you take that extra time and care to ensure that you have compliance.
[Roberta Cameron]: Thank you other questions from committee members. The thing that I wanted is so I understand that the study that was attached to the application was a study that was prepared by somebody else at a different time and that that was just to give us a better understanding of what the space needs are. But one of the things that I wanted to make sure was understood that using CPA funds, it has to be a restoration project. And the word replace shouldn't really enter the vocabulary anywhere, you know, without a very sound reason. So windows, for example, need to be restored and not replaced.
[Paul Righi]: Correct. Windows restored, doors restored, roof repaired and restored. Luckily, the majority of those items are still in good shape. So I didn't see a need of, you know, my feeling is if something's still usable and it's easily to repair and restore, why don't we do that than expending the money to totally get rid of it and replace it with something different?
[Roberta Cameron]: And I have to ask, what is a resilience center?
[Paul Righi]: The resiliency center correct Teresa correct me if I'm wrong, but it's for residents of Medford to be able to go for any kind of need that they may have. Also, in any kind of emergency situation, it would also be an emergency operations center for the city, manned by the health department and planning and prevention and outreach. Outreach and prevention. With social workers, and so it's basically Citywide service for social social work and various other services that the city can provide residents.
[Roberta Cameron]: I love the fact that we're providing a space for this because we very, very much need it, but I'm. I'm not familiar with the public transportation on that side of the city.
[Theresa Dupont]: There is a bus stop and sidewalks that are 150 feet away. The Hegner Center, if you're familiar with Gillis Park, Hegner Center was the former field house for Gillis Field. Right behind or on the other side of Hegner is that Maple Park condominiums. It's right on the corner of Fulton and Fellsway. If you're familiar with that, bus stop is right in front of it. Okay, and signalize crosswalk at the Fulton and fells way as well as a crosswalk right at the building too. So, in terms of public transportation and. It's actually one of our better sidewalks. It's in that area.
[Roberta Cameron]: And if we provide after-school care at this location, who is providing the after-school care and to whom?
[Theresa Dupont]: So the after-school programming managed by the recreational department. OK. And in terms of whom, I'm not sure.
[Reggie Graham]: I said really?
[Ada Gunning]: I was actually just going to look up the distance between the Robert's and the tree.
[Reggie Graham]: The recreation department has the expertise
[Theresa Dupont]: It's after-school programming, it's not after-school care.
[Paul Righi]: Oh, okay. Sorry. It may be sports, educational components.
[Ada Gunning]: It's an eight-minute walk from the Roberts. My assumption was that it would be like Roberts. But I don't know, I guess if it's not a formal after-school program, then it could be middle school kids.
[Roberta Cameron]: Yeah. Okay. Because I had I've heard of a funding source that that could potentially benefit after school care, but probably not after school programming. Okay.
[Ada Gunning]: Okay. Other questions actually, I'm sorry. I do have a question about that. Why after school programming through the rep department, as opposed to after school care, which is like, 1 of our most identified needs.
[Paul Righi]: Um, because the rec department needs more space for their afterschool programming. Um, they are maxed out. Um, and there are more parents that are asking for it. So it's a, it's to fill a need, um, for parents in Medford. So they want, want to be able to expand what they currently have. Um, and, you know, bring more programming for, for the,
[Ada Gunning]: I mean, I just, I, as the parent who loves the rec center and I am familiar with their scheduling and how there's, there's not even like a moment where they don't have something scheduled. There is an entire other set of parents that also have a really significant need for just afterschool care. And to me, it doesn't seem obvious that this need should supersede that need. That's not your problem necessarily.
[Paul Righi]: No, I understand. I know. It might be a discussion that maybe the mayor needs to hear to see if there's some way somewhere in the city to develop something like that down the road.
[Theresa Dupont]: I will say that it is a priority whether or not we have the resources available at this moment. I've been in discussions as the CPA manager with entities and organizations, the schools even, about what can we do to address the need for childcare. Yeah, it's a problem that needs to be addressed in a multiple-pronged way, but I do know that it is a priority of this administration. But we can obviously ask questions and be more vocal about it.
[Roberta Cameron]: Certainly, well, this has been really interesting and helpful. I think, you know, no matter what we use this building for, there's a need for municipal space. And so, um. It's this is a necessary 1st step to making this building be usable. At this stage, so I appreciate this application as well. And this is a really tough question, but it's going to be in the back of my mind, at least when we come to the deliberation process. But since you have 2 projects in front of us right now. And the committee has received applications for funds that exceed the amount of funding available for this funding round. If we had to award less than what's been requested, Is there a way that we could make a choice between these 2 projects or reduce the amount from what has been requested for these 2 projects?
[Paul Righi]: I mean, I would say my priority is City Hall bathrooms because that right now doesn't even have a funding source. Haegner Center does at least have some funding guarantee to it. So if it had to be cut back on Haegner, you know, to save the bathrooms at City Hall, then that would be fine with me. You know, I sometimes I'm greedy and say, no, I want everything. But, you know, it's I deal with funding all the time. And so it's, you know, it's like juggling and, you know, you don't want to drop anything and you want to make sure that, you know, when you're parsing out things, everybody feels that they have their equal share. And it's difficult. It's a difficult time for funding. It's a difficult time. Things are getting more expensive. And what you guys deal with, they're not cheap items. They're deep-pocketed items. But I would say City Hall, because right now there is no funding stream. And we need that in City Hall. We need to bring that. I have a lot of plans for other things in that building that I'm working on or trying to work on. We need to bring City Hall back to its former glory, I think.
[Roberta Cameron]: Thank you. So, if you're able to generate any more numbers, more specificity on the city hall project about what you're aiming to accomplish with the 1st tranche of funding. That would be helpful. So what is the approximate cost of a study? How much would be going toward construction? What is the likelihood that what you asked for in the first tranche will at least get us one bathroom? All of that, it would be because the reason I ask is that it is a lot easier for us to increase the budget now if we need to, or decrease it if that's appropriate, I mean, if we want to decrease the budget, it doesn't really matter, but it is much easier to increase the budget now before it goes to City Council. After it goes to City Council, we have to go through this whole process all over again and send it to City Council again. So we want to make sure that that's why we're so specific about the budgets. We want to make sure that we're committing enough funding to the project to be successful.
[Paul Righi]: No, I hear you. I can reach out to my architectural firms and see if they can give me at least some kind of ballpark numbers. That would be really helpful if you can. I'm not going to hold them to the feet of the fire, but at least if they can give me some ballparks to work with, then I can provide to Teresa.
[Roberta Cameron]: Sounds good. Great. Thank you very much. Thanks. Thank you.
[Paul Righi]: Thank you. Everybody have a good night tomorrow. Thank you.
[Roberta Cameron]: All right, so we do have 1 bit of business to go back to to review the meeting minutes from the September. 10 meeting, would you want me to pull them up? They were in the drop.
[Theresa Dupont]: Yeah, right there.
[Roberta Cameron]: Are there any comments about the meeting minutes?
[Joan Cyr]: Make a motion to accept the meeting minutes.
[Roberta Cameron]: I second. Then I will call the roll. Reggie?
[Reggie Graham]: Yes.
[Roberta Cameron]: Ada? Yeah. Joan? Yes. Kayleen?
[SPEAKER_13]: Yes.
[Roberta Cameron]: Sorry, yes, and myself. Yes. So, meeting minutes are accepted and did we want to take a couple of minutes to debrief on what we heard this evening? Or are we going to save all of the debriefing until November?
[Reggie Graham]: quite frankly, we asked enough questions, I think, that we asked enough questions. And I think we have a pretty good handle on what everybody wants. And I think what we really need to do now is just kind of put it in the slots where they need to be and, you know, put it in, you know, degree of importance and so on and so forth. I have my ideas and I'm sure everybody else has their ideas about what's important and what can be presented to the city council after we get finished with our second round.
[Ammons]: Yeah.
[Theresa Dupont]: I failed to call it out whenever I shared the meeting packet. But inside the meeting packet, there is an evaluation form in there, which if you want to make notes about your project, it's a fillable PDF form. There's a slot for each project on there, as well as what their CPA ask is. So that's just there. It's not like homework. It's just there as a tool to see if that would be helpful for you to keep all of your thoughts in one area. Also, there is a drop down menu if you feel that this project is a low priority for you personally versus medium or high. So just trying to make that easier. Plus there's also a criteria form in there that might be helpful for some of our newer members as well.
[Roberta Cameron]: Thank you for putting all that together. Anyone else?
[Ada Gunning]: I feel like the first three projects really fit our mission, and the last two a little bit more questionable, but that doesn't speak to the urgency of it. So it's just an interesting balance, where when Liz was speaking, it was like, yep, check all the boxes, and same with Amanda. But did that make those projects more urgent? Not necessarily. So that's my thought.
[Theresa Dupont]: I will say that the first three applicants that we heard from, Amanda and Liz from the EU Church, They have come before CPA before, so I think that they have an idea. Yeah, they had a experience that helped lean towards that presentation. But I will definitely follow up with Paul and lend my assistance where we can to get a little bit more of a defined scope.
[Ada Gunning]: Great. Is everybody hungry? Yes. More like sleepy. Same.
[Roberta Cameron]: Well, I think we need a motion to adjourn.
[Joan Cyr]: So can I just ask a quick question? Are we going to be over what our estimated funding is for this year with all of these applications as they're currently?
[Theresa Dupont]: That is correct. We have about 2.48 million in our asks right now to a budget of 1.9. However, there are undesignated funds that is just basically the pennies that we still have some of that funding available, and that's approximately 600,000. Also in the packet was a financial spreadsheet that kind of abstracted what the asks are, what we have in our coffers, as well as what are budgeted.
[Joan Cyr]: Looking at that and you have the total for all categories at 24, 9, 9, 535. And then down the bottom, it looks like we have 25. 14 to 90. So that made me think that we have a little bit more money available than what's being requested. But are you saying that's correct?
[Roberta Cameron]: Again, that's so that's including the undesignated funds, which we had decided last year as a committee that we wanted to hold on to a portion of the funds just to maintain. Yeah.
[Theresa Dupont]: So, while it's technically available, we had made that decision to keep some in the coffers. So. Yeah, it's it's there if we want to use it if we feel like it's necessary to use it this funding round or to reduce the asks and then keep that.
[Joan Cyr]: And the reason we keeping in the, what are we keeping in the undesignated funds? What did we agree to keep there? We had agreed to 25.
[Theresa Dupont]: 225. 225, 225,000. So again, there's 630, I believe. So let's call it, there's like 400,000 available for us to continue to use if we want and hold to our, let's keep 225 in the bank account.
[Ada Gunning]: Okay. That would bring us almost to the football.
[Theresa Dupont]: Almost.
[Reggie Graham]: So, you know, we could always... How much did we use for emergency this year? I mean, the... Off-cycle?
[Theresa Dupont]: Off-cycle was $15,000. That's all?
[Reggie Graham]: Yeah.
[Theresa Dupont]: That's all we used? That's all so far, so far. The year is still young, Rich, but that was for those, the bike maintenance repair stations at the high school, McGlynn and Andrews. Yeah. So thank you, that's a good point. I don't think that's reflected on there, but I will make that amendment.
[Joan Cyr]: I believe it was only 15,000. Motion to close the meeting? Second.
[Roberta Cameron]: Not everybody rush. All right, Edda. Yes. Reg. Yes. Joan. Yes. Ari. Yes. Haley. Yes. I think that's all of us, myself, yes.
[Theresa Dupont]: So next meeting is on the 22nd.
[Roberta Cameron]: Okay, thank you all so much.