LETTER: In Town Hall Move Talks, It's Time to Stick with Facts

To the editor:

There’s inference and innuendo buzzing about town. The inference is that the state of the Town Hall is a tragedy born of neglect. The innuendo is that the culprit is complacence and corruption.

If we examine the facts neither is true. The Town Hall is an antique requiring extensive restoration and the culprit is time.

Initiatives to renovate the Town Hall began back in 1982 and have recurred through the years until today. Considerable town resources were expended each time planning for the inevitable but either by referendum or unwilling Town Councils the work was for naught. Temporary fixes have been unable to contain further deterioration. A major effort was undertaken in 2011 with the goal of relocating and consolidating all municipal offices into the former Wickford Elementary School. Extensive preparatory work was done on architectural and engineering design, cost, environmental impact, traffic studies, historic implications and other aspects. But voters said NO to the town borrowing money to finance these changes.

The inference that neglect has brought this about is nonsensical. Maintenance might be blamed for an expired fire extinguisher or an unlit emergency exit sign, but only capital intensive code compliant renovation can resolve the building’s basic life safety deficiencies.

Numerous deficiencies are listed in both the Building Official’s report and the Fire Marshall’s inspection report, but let’s focus for now on the biggest and easiest to understand from each report.

The Foundation – Our Town Hall rests on a brick foundation of unknown thickness and precise condition but the observable surfaces on the inside are turning to dust. If you bury an adobe brick in the wet ground for a hundred years it will disintegrate. This is why current building standards discourage the bygone practice of brick subsurface foundations. There is no amount of maintenance that will prevent its ultimate failure. Brick is a porous and unsealed barrier to moisture from the outside and is particularly vulnerable to its ravages. The exact extent of the problem at the Town Hall and its urgency can be determined by boring test holes around the foundation and analyzing the results. But even under the best scenario, temporary containment will be costly and wasteful as ultimately the foundation must be rebuilt.

Second Means of Egress – There is only one stairway leading to the second floor. Two are required today. A fire escape is no longer an approved means of egress, so we need to construct a second stairwell inside the building or outside. This would probably become the main stairwell because even the existing one is non compliant with code. An architect would recommend options and design the stairwell before we could solicit bids. But none of this will make the building accessible to disabled staff or visitors.

There are numerous and substantial additional violations to be addressed. Electrical service relocation, doorway improvement, mold remediation, floor system failure, and more. The town has requested and obtained delays and variances based on our intent to vacate the Town Hall in a few months. If we don’t, those accommodations will be rescinded retroactive to the original application date in July. Full restoration of the Town Hall, even if it made economic sense in the long run (which remains to be

ascertained), cannot possibly be completed within this time frame, let alone with staff still in the building.

We have experts. We employ professionals of the highest order. They recommend that we vacate Town Hall. We have an Asset Management Commission comprised of experienced citizens that recommended, contrary to the preferences of the Town Council, that we move to the old school administration building. The Town Council voted to proceed as recommended. Staff are now well advanced preparing for this imminent change. Further discussion of the cost of renovating the old building can be useful later, when the town considers what to do with it in the long run.

The innuendo is that previous Town Councils and Town Managers are to blame. If we now don’t resolve these glaring and obvious liabilities, if we remain willfully negligent, how can we claim to be morally or ethically superior to any who have preceded us?

Palmer Beebe
North Kingstown