<p>Following a defeat by voters in the ballot box last week, Oak Bluffs leaders said this week they are uncertain about the next steps for the new town hall building project.</p>
Following a defeat by voters in the ballot box last week, Oak Bluffs leaders said this week they are uncertain about the next steps for the new town hall building project.
At a special election last Thursday, a question to exclude the debt for an additional $1.3 million from the provisions of Proposition 2 1/2 failed by 75 votes. Two days earlier the question saw overwhelming support on the town meeting floor. But without ballot approval for the added spending, the town hall project has been thrown into limbo again.
Last spring, voters approved $9.9 million for town hall project but voted down additional $1.3 million last week.
Last spring, voters approved $9.9 million for town hall project but voted down additional $1.3 million last week.
“We need to reorganize,” selectman Mike Santoro said. “I think the selectemen need to give the building committee some direction to move forward and bring it to town meeting again. The majority of people know there’s a need for a new town hall, so I would support presenting it again. To what scale, I don’t know. At this point the price tag is going to keep rising.”
Voters approved $9.9 million for the project last spring. After two rounds of bidding came in over budget this summer including with cost cutting, the decision was made to return to voters for an additional $1.3 million.
Now it’s back to the drawing board for the embattled town hall project. The building committee is scheduled to meet Nov. 28.
“I’m about to poll my troops, and see if anybody wants to go on,” committee chairman Bill McGrath said this week. “My problem personally is, I have no idea what direction to go.”
Selectman Greg Coogan said he wants to take some time to gauge what voters want to do.
“I don’t think there’s any consensus at this point on which way to go,” Mr. Coogan said. “I’m still trying to process the fact that we had the overwhelming vote for at the town meeting and then the vote against it at the ballot. I think it’s wait and see. I don’t think there is any rush to do anything right now. It’s pretty confusing now what the town wants.”
Selectman Gail Barmakian agreed. “We sort of need to sit back for a second, take a breather,” she said. “The first step is to really interpret what the vote is. The vote could have been we don’t want anything. The vote could have been we want the town hall for $9.9 million. The vote could have been, there’s all this other stuff coming down the pike, we need to think of priorities. People are concerned about taxes.”
Selectman Brian Packish, an outspoken critic of the project, said he believed voters lost faith in the process.
“I had a lot of faith in individuals that were involved in the process, great people that worked hard, but as a selectman, I was asking questions and it didn’t really feel like people were super forthcoming,” Mr. Packish said. “The outcome is as expected for me, I’m a little surprised it was as close as it was.”
At a selectmen’s meeting held Tuesday to set the tax rate, the town hall project was not a topic for discussion.
Meanwhile, in the short term town administrator Robert Whritenour said the decrepit state of the town hall — which includes rotting windows, a failed heating system and numerous code violations — will need to be addressed.
“I think certainly we’re back to the initial premise that we have a problematic town hall,” Mr. Whritenour said. “There are issues that need to be addressed, and we need to develop a building program for addressing the deficiencies in the building. It’s going to take a little discussion with the board of selectmen, and rethinking our different options and possibilities.”
The town has been renting trailers at a cost of $8,500 per month to be used as temporary housing for town employees once construction begins.
Mr. Whritenour said the temporary facilities will have to be considered in the larger context of the town’s next steps.
“There’s the town hall, there’s the temporary facilities,” he said. “We’re going to take a little time, evaluate what the best options are, not move too fast.”
Comments
What about scaling back town
WashAbhorred EdgartownWhat about scaling back town hall or incorporating it with other projects like the High School/MVCS switch or the school districts request for a new building? Perhaps splitting some of the departments to other locations?
I'm pretty sure something could be built for the original amount - it just might have all the bells and whistles.
Best way to approach the project is to pretend it's YOUR money and not OPM.
As someone who supported this
Defeated OBAs someone who supported this new town hall I must give credit where credit is due, even while the other side gloats. Well played politicians! Very well played. You rallied your silent majority and saved them hundreds of dollars a year. They LOVE you. You gave them a voice and money and a sense of being heard. If, as is likely, some agency from America comes over and says WTF you guys can't keep your workers in this broken down shack or keep your disabled out of it for meetings, you will just say you fought with them til the end. Brilliant move from millionaire politicians who are completely insulated from any real impact when the cost of this vote hits their base. They know you will be twice as mad and vote twice as hard for them if an outsider forces their hand. Their bank accounts will take a tiny hit, their political careers will build, and they can replace the voters that had to move off island with the new poor and mad they created. Well played.
Given there is a percentage
John Aldeborgh Edgartown, MAGiven there is a percentage of the population willing to accept higher taxes, why not turn to that segment and ask for donations (conduct a fundraiser) to close the $1.3M gap. Seems a simple and straightforward solution.
May I suggest to all the take
Guest Cape Cod and IslandsMay I suggest to all the take a little time folk that you have already taken a lot of time. More time than you entitled to under the laws of this land. The Commonwealth has taken an interest in this situation and hopes for all parties sake that this be resolved yesterday if not sooner. Patience has run out.
The temporary trailers that
Sara Crafts Oak BluffsThe temporary trailers that have been in place for a while need to be used or returned. The rental estimate for those trailers that I received from a selectman was $8,000 per month, with an original set-up cost of $100,000. That is ridiculous. Someone pulled that string way, way too soon. Most people I know who voted against the new town hall, myself included, felt that either the current building could be rehabbed with that nearly $10 million we first voted, or a smaller, far more efficient building could be erected. I believe the younger, newer members of the Board of Selectmen should be listened to, and perhaps lead the way into what will exist, after all, in their futures.
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