Norwich — After hiring a new architect last month, town leaders could have preliminary floor plans for renovations to the fire and police stations by the end of June, with the possibility of a bond vote in November.

In April, Montpelier resident Jay White signed a $34,000 contract with the town to redesign the old police building, which has substandard interview rooms and a leaky roof, among other deficiencies, and to improve the fire station.

During a Selectboard special meeting Wednesday evening, White and board members reviewed a proposal intended to address some of the cost concerns that sank two bond requests last year.

“It won’t win any awards for being unusually fancy,” White told the board. “… But it’ll be very usable and functional.”

White cited Royalton’s new town offices, which he designed, as an example of the frugality he proposes: The roughly 5,000-square-foot building has fiber cement siding and PVC trim, with as few frills as possible, and ended up costing about $700,000, he said.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Selectman Steve Flanders suggested holding a bond vote in November, when the presidential election is expected to draw a high turnout.

White jumped on the idea, saying it was “very possible” he could have a clear cost estimate ready by mid-September, the deadline to warn a November vote.

After the meeting, Selectboard Chairwoman Linda Cook said the timing of a potential bond vote would have to be decided over the summer, and would depend on how quickly the board could come up with a plan and inform the public.

The most immediate task for town leaders in coming weeks will be to go over the list of fire and police needs that they put together last year and fit those specifications to White’s proposal.

Following that, White said, he could return with a preliminary floor plan in June.

The facilities renovation program calls for about 6,000 square feet of administrative office space, about 21 percent larger than the size of White’s project in Royalton.

It includes such amenities for police as separate interview rooms for suspects and witnesses, a secure garage, and space for evidence processing and storage.

Wednesday’s meeting followed years of planning and debate over the scope and features of the facilities renovations that culminated in Town Meeting votes in 2015, when two roughly $3 million bond requests were defeated.

Opponents, including what was then a minority of the Selectboard, said the price was too high for Norwich.

With a swing-vote selectman’s ouster from the board last year, town leaders abandoned the plans drawn up by Middlebury, Vt., firm Bread Loaf and brought in new architects.

In his winning proposal to the town, White offered to cut costs and give board members and municipal employees the means to “sell” the idea to voters.

He reiterated that stance Wednesday, telling town leaders and the handful of residents present that they needed to be united behind a single plan before putting it on the ballot.

“It needs to come from Norwich,” White said. “It can’t just be an architect from Montpelier coming in and telling you what to do.”

In that situation, he said, “you won’t get it past a bond vote.”

Board members closed the meeting with an executive session to discuss the search process for an interim town manager, and adjourned afterward without taking action.

The next regularly scheduled Selectboard meeting will take place on Wednesday.

Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.

 

Clarification

Renovations to the Norwich fire and police stations would create a facility of about 6,000 gross square feet, which is 21 percent larger than a recent public facilities project completed in Royalton by the same architect, Jay White. A story in the July 14 Valley News, as well as a prior article in early May, mischaracterized the comparative sizes of the buildings.