GUILFORD FACILITIES TASK FORCE FINAL REPORT to Board of Selectmen - PDF document

April 2020 GUILFORD FACILITIES TASK FORCE FINAL REPORT to Board of Selectmen GENERAL FINDINGS • Most major facilities are physically up to date and adequate: o Town Hall, Library, Community Center, Police, Fire o However: ▪ Parking is an issue, especially for the library and community center and to a lesser extent Town Hall ▪ Paper storage/supply issues are common to all departments. (Note: These are being addressed by another committee.) • Wholly inadequate: o Public Works (Insufficient parking, valuable rolling stock stored outside, no space for truck wash, location in Flood Zone and at farthest SE corner of town, possible contamination. P&R facilities on site are so inadequate that a rented trailer is required for office and employee safety.) o 52 Church (structurally inappropriate for municipal use, multi-level) o Food Bank (Insufficient food storage; very old mechanical systems; marginal construction integrity) o Social Services (inadequate space; no meeting room; no client confidential space) o Solid Waste Management facilities (transfer station (outdated mechanical equipment with no replacement parts), stump dump, etc.) o Boston Street (no utilities or bathroom, (septic?), makeshift layout, limited parking) o Friends of the Library storage (marginal building lacking utilities or bathroom; chopped up, multilevel space making movement of people and books difficult) o Facilities with multiple locations. (e.g. Facilities Dept operates out of 4 locations: Town Hall South, Boston St, Town Hall Basement, and Town Hall Barn.) • Other issues with smaller departments spread throughout town o Town Hall South (Cramped, lack of storage(moving Facilities creates a little space) o Youth & Family Services (storage space in wet basement) o Town Hall (storage) o Police facilities (storage) o Park and Recreation (See note under Public Works). • Town staff has been exceptionally knowledgeable and helpful in our work. PROPERTY RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Move Public Works/Park and Rec Facilities to a single, centralized, as yet undetermined location. a. Consolidate and assess other departments for potential inclusion in this new facility. b. Plan for future growth and federal/state compliance. 2. Consolidate Food Bank and Social Services at an as yet undetermined location.

a. Consider alternate locations. (Access, accessibility, and privacy are key issues). Guilford Facilities Task Force FINAL REPORT to Board of Selectmen -2 (Note: 52 Church Street was considered but rejected due to negative impacts on parking.) b. Demolish current Food Bank. 3. Use Lathrop House to support Library Friends operations. a. Demolish the old Community Nursery School for parking. b. Assess possibility of continuing parking behind Church and through to Town Hall. 4. Use Barn behind Town Hall for Youth & Family Services and possibly other departments. 5. Demolish 52 Church Street and create parking with appropriate streetscape treatment. 6. Develop current Social Services site to support Adams School function. 7. Sell Boston Street property. 8. Evaluate all town-owned, undeveloped land to determine potential for sale. (+/-55 parcels, totaling 85.7 acres, mostly with open space, wetlands or town road restrictions). PROCEDURAL RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Coordinate town schedules for events to optimize usage of facilities. 2. Require that each department has a longer-range written plan integrated into an overall town plan, updated annually, so that longer term, non-budget issues are identified in annual budgeting process. (ex. Vehicle fleet maintenance) 3. Confirm which department is responsible for each Town-owned open space property (e.g. Conservation Commission, Parks and Recreation, etc.) 4. Consider potential regionalization of facilities prior to initiating new facilities projects (e.g. transfer station). OTHER ISSUES OUTSIDE OUR RESPONSIBILITY 1. Materials Management Planning a. Solid waste b. Transfer station c. Catch basin cleanings d. Dredging spoils e. Written management plans 2. Energy a. Johnson Controls assessment key b. Id/retrofit geothermal and solar opportunities c. Try to anticipate regulatory and other control issues 3. Volunteer fire stations 4. Affordable and higher-density housing 5. Hazmat committee and disaster plan integration OPERATIONAL QUESTIONS:

1. Should the BOS create an administrative management committee? Guilford Facilities Task Force FINAL REPORT to Board of Selectmen -3 2. Do we have too many (or inappropriately composed) committees in town to be efficient? a. Should a staff person be assigned to each committee? (Some committees don’t use/ignore staff.) That said, staff seem overcommitted. b. BOS needs to make sure enough committees/commission members are knowledgeable of town structure and procedures as well as DEEP and other state regulatory requirements. 3. Should the town consider de-construction, rather than traditional demolition, of excess properties? RECOMMENDATIONS PREVIOUSLY MADE • Develop a paper storage policy and cleanup current storage. • Demolish 52 Church Street. • Use Town Hall barn for town storage and other uses. • Start planning for Public Works/Park and Recreation Facility: Create a DPW Study Committee (programming and site selection, if necessary). (Note: An RFP for an Engineering Study is about to be issued.)