Brewster In Bloom Sunday

We got lucky again with a beautiful day for the parade. The Board rode together to promote Bike Brewster - Pat's idea. Got a very positive reception, but I want to share one comment that I overheard - "Bike Brewster, yeah and get hit by a semi." I agree with this concern, and the Board is taking steps to try to address this - putting signs on 6A to direct people to the bike path (thanks Chief Koch, Jack Clarke, and all the Bikeways Committee for making this happen), and working with the State and the Cape Cod Commission to try to get some shoulders added (and new sidewalks) when the state repaves 6A sometime in 2015. I hope to take this up again at our May 19 meeting. Thanks to the Chamber as always for a nice parade. The rain showers held off until later, and provided a rainbow to cap off a great weekend.

Brewster in Bloom Saturday

Our day started with the Bloom 5k organized expertly as always by our Recreation Dept. It was the first 5k I've run together with my 11 yr old! Went from there to the open house at the Fire Station. Well done as always - I hope that this event will soon be in a new home! Then to the Nauset Youth Alliance event at Drummer Boy. What a gorgeous day, spring has finally arrived.

Brewster In Bloom Friday

Brewster In Bloom weekend! Had a great time at the Ice Cream Social at the COA with the kids. Then my 2nd grader came with me to the Brewster Band concert. A big 20th Anniversary celebration. Tributes to founder Leah Belliveau and all who have been part of this institution. Ben, who once played sax in the band, read the proclamation for Leah, and I read the one for the band - the pic is of me handing it to Steve Stranger and John New. Highlight of the night was the solo by founding director Bruce Abbott. Thanks to Bill Pomeroy for the photo.

Brewster Goes Green

I had a nice time last night at the Brewster Goes Green event. We discussed a lot of the progress that Brewster has made on environmental issues - protecting open space, reducing solid waste, generating solar electricity, water quality, etc. More work to do - completing our comprehensive water quality process, work on improving the condition of our ponds, look at more possible solar developments. Thanks to all who attended, and to Chris Powicki and Paul Gasek for organizing the event!

Eddy School Roof Update

I’m writing to share with you some important news that the board discussed at our meeting last night. The bids for the Eddy School roof project (new roof, fire alarm equipment, and heating and ventilation) came back roughly 50% higher than the estimate in our January 2014 feasibility study. Therefore, we will ask the citizens to authorize approximately $3.3 million instead of $2.3 million for this project. While this is very concerning, we remain committed to seeing this project through to completion.

After our discussion, we understand that there are several reasons that the bid price was higher than our original estimate.

First, the diligent work of our Building and Needs Assessment Committee resulted in several changes to the scope of the project. The most expensive of these is the replacement of the controller unit for the HVAC system. It was determined that the current unit is antiquated, far less efficient than a new unit, and potentially unreliable compared to a new unit. We also included the replacement of old sidewall above the roof eaves so that we don’t risk damage to the new roof carrying out this work only a few years from now. In addition, we opted to extend the manufacturer’s warranty from 20 years to 30 years. These additional items approached $300,000.

Second, the HVAC units themselves are approximately $450,000 more expensive than estimated. This is likely due to the final specifications, challenging construction logistics, and bid climate.

Finally, the total reflects an evolving public construction environment. Fewer contractors are pursuing a surge in municipal projects, so prices for projects are rising as a result.

While the bottom line was much higher than expected, the bids we received were competitive and very comparable. One positive is that the low bidder is a contractor with whom we’ve worked very successfully in the past.

Despite this unfortunate news, we believe that we must go forward with this project. The Eddy School is an important town asset that we need to protect and maintain. The significant leaks and the dysfunctional HVAC and fire alarm systems must be addressed. We are spending between $50,000 and $100,000 each year to maintain broken systems without getting satisfactory results. We need to move forward and get this project done. The condition of the school will only deteriorate further should we ignore this need. Delaying the project will likely cost town even more money.

In order for this project to go forward, the town must vote in favor of appropriating the construction monies ($3.3 million) by a two-thirds vote at town meeting and by a majority vote at the town election. We will temporarily borrow these funds, at a reduced interest rate, for a few years before going to permanent financing, and we may pay off some of the capital during the temporary note in order to reduce the amount we have to borrow over the long term.

I hope you this explanation helps you better understand the situation we face with this project as we go to town meeting and election. And I hope you will support it. Thank you!

Beautify Brewster

Spent the morning with the McGees and two of their grandchildren picking up trash along the rail trail. Our big score was this sign that someone tossed in the ditch. Thanks to Ryan Burch for organizing this great annual event - over 100 volunteers and more than a ton of trash - and only a little rain.

Signs are up!

Thanks to Peter Johnson and others, our signs are going up around town today, even as I am in Michigan for the week. They are the recycled signs from three years ago with new date stickers. We also ordered the new campaign flyers - see photo here. More soon!