Politics & Government

Medfield Building Committee to Discuss Town Garage Project with Selectmen in September

The Medfield Permanent Building Committee will meet with the Board of Selectmen on Sept. 20 to discuss the proposed town garage in an effort to get all three selectmen onboard with the project.

The Medfield Permanent Building Committee will meet with the Board of Selectmen on Sept. 20 to discuss the proposed town garage project at the request of Town Administrator Michael Sullivan. 

The Building committee has been revisiting the proposed that failed to pass the and recommended the town proceeds with building the Salt Shed.

The committee discussed the development of a capital plan and process, which includes a new town garage.

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Committee member, Timothy Bonfatti, stressed the importance of pointing out to residents the necessity of building a new town garage and that it is a priority that needs to be done before other capital projects such as police and fire, parks and recreation and the Dale Street School projects can proceed.

Bonfatti and other committee members recognized that questions of the proposed building’s size and type of construction needed to be more fully addressed if it is going to gain the town’s support. He also mentioned the building’s size is to create more space for other departments in the town to use, not just Public Works.

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“The proposed town garage would provide space for school department maintenance vehicles and equipment, which had been eliminated in the school renovations, to provide additional classroom space,” Bonfatti said.

The committee discussed doing a feasibility study to address the issues raised by Selectmen chair Osler Peterson leading up to Town Meeting and the special election.

“[The] feasibility study [will compare] what towns of our size and scope and services did for town garages and what was the common size cost of town garage for community services that a town [like Medfield] provides,” Sullivan said.

Peterson said at the Aug. 16 Board of Selectmen meeting that his only issue with the town garage project is what .

“No one had given me the answers to why this building or why the size of the building [is necessary] and I’m still waiting to here why it has to be that big,” Peterson said. “I’ve accepted the fact that garages cost whatever it is per foot in general, but I need some proof as to why it should be that big.”

Sullivan told the building committee the first order of business is to convince the Board of Selectmen of the need for a replacement town garage as the Selectmen had taken three different positions at the Town Meeting. 

“I know [the building committee is] specifically asking Ann [Thompson] and I, because [Ann] was not sure of [the garage] and I had voted against it and so they’re saying they really need to get the selectmen onboard and so they’re asking us,” Peterson said.

Thompson explained her position on the town garage at the Aug. 16 Board of Selectmen meeting.

“I told [the building committee] I voted [in favor of the garage] mainly because of what other people said at the meeting and at Town Meeting [Peterson] was a very strong no, Mark [Fisher] was a very strong yes and I was a maybe yes,” Thompson said. “Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly for it so I guess it didn’t matter to the Town Meeting but something certainly mattered to the voters at the polls. So what the issue was at the polls, I don’t know, but I hope we’ll get some more answers because I don’t like to be ambivalent about a vote, that’s not like me. I hope we can get some definite answers so we can vote a definite yes or a definite no.”

The building committee agreed with Sullivan that it should meet with the selectmen in September to discuss the town garage replacement with them and Sullivan scheduled an appointment with the Selectmen at their Sept. 20th meeting.

In addition to scheduling a meeting with the Board of Selectmen, the committee agreed the original feasibility study on the town garage should be circulated among committee members.

Bonfatti brought up the use of social media could help share information on the town garage project.

Bonfatti said the school department had been successful in building support for its overrides, although he recognized the school department had a natural consistency to support its efforts, and could rely on private groups to get out information to residents on school issues, while the DPW had no such constituency and that is where social media could play an effective role.

Building Committee Recommends Building of Salt Shed to Selectmen

After discussion at its Aug. 4 meeting, the Medfield Permanent Building Committee agreed to recommend proceeding with the  building of the Salt Shed to the Board of Selectmen.

“The salt shed is part of the [town garage] project,” Sullivan said.

Building Committee chair Thomas Erb said he supported proceeding with the Salt Shed and after discussion from several committee members it was approved unanimously to proceed with its construction, subject to approval of the RFP that will be reviewed by the committee at member Timothy Bonfatti’s request. The shed will be made of wood, with a concrete knee wall.


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