Union Church Committee Meeting ~ August 3, 2023

2023-08-03 · Union Church Committee · 2:00:24 · watch on YouTube →

The second meeting of the Union Church Committee, which the Select Board charged with recommending long-term uses for the town-owned 1835 church and what restoration it would need. Most of the meeting was spent on two things: a history and timeline of the building presented by Tia (?), and a report on contractor estimates for lifting the church and replacing its sill and foundation. The committee amended and accepted its July 18 minutes after several members disputed that they had agreed the town's $10,000 could be spent on evaluations rather than repairs. It then brainstormed a deliberately unfiltered list of options for the building, from the town keeping it as a museum to selling it for a dollar, moving it, or tearing it down, agreeing to attach rough costs later. No decision was taken on any option.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 4:34
   Minutes of July 18 amended and accepted

   Two members said they did not recall agreeing that the $10,000 the town voted could be used for evaluations and assessments rather than repairs, and asked that the minutes not be read as a decision. The chair advised retrieving the town meeting vote wording. A second amendment attributed the 'serious structural issues or collapse in four to five years' finding to a named recollection rather than to the written report.

2. 15:16
   History and timeline of the church

   A written history and timeline were circulated covering work done on the building since 1835. Points (?) raised included a bell made by Paul Revere's son, original 12-over-12 windows on the sides and rear, foundation work in 1959 or 1960, and the last church service around 1878.

3. 25:51
   The building's use as a museum since 1988

   The Historical Society has been housed in the church since a town meeting article in April 1988 and has run it as a museum for roughly thirty years. Several members said this made the committee's charge to determine future use puzzling, since the use has not changed in that time.

4. 47:53
   Historic District Commission purview

   The commission's jurisdiction was explained: exterior changes, fences, additions and paint colours within the district, triggered by building permits and referred by the codes officer. Members noted past failures to refer work, including vinyl siding installed on an adjacent house without review.

5. 52:55
   Contractor report on lifting the building

   A written report on the meeting with the Kopp Brothers (?) was discussed. Rebuilding the sill was put at about $50,000 and rebuilding the foundation at about $50,000, so roughly $100,000 to lift the church, build a new foundation and set it back down. The contractor stressed these were ballpark figures given current concrete prices.

6. 58:05
   What the estimates do and do not cover

   Members noted the $100,000 excludes a badly rotted corner where animals are entering, and possibly bathrooms and accessibility work. The point was made repeatedly that the competing estimates are not comparable because no one has told the contractors what the town actually wants done.

7. 1:04:24
   MDOT contacted about site access

   A member reported speaking with an MDOT safety officer, who said the wide gravel frontage would have to be narrowed to a single controlled entrance. The traffic engineer was on leave and a written response is expected.

8. 1:10:16
   Brainstorm of options for the building

   The committee listed options without judging them: town keeps it with the Historical Society running it, town brings it up to code, sale to the Historical Society for a dollar, sale to a private buyer, library, town offices, town store, art gallery or artisan space, recreation area, moving it to the river park, dismantling it, and demolition. The chair asked that no option be argued down at this stage.

9. 1:37:15
   Whether to commission a structural engineer

   Members discussed paying for a structural assessment, with figures of $3,000 to $5,000 suggested, and agreed a preservation specialist was needed rather than a general engineer, who might misread traditional timber framing as unsafe. One member offered to approach an engineer who had previously assessed a member's own house.

10. 1:42:30
    A 2018 bid read into the record

    A 2018 bid from a dry stone contractor was described at $98,000, covering removal of the concrete block foundation, new engineered joists and hangers, sill repair, a retaining wall behind the building, drainage excavation and a new access door.

11. 1:48:22
    Next meetings and reporting deadline

    The next meetings were set for August 17 and August 31, with the committee agreeing to meet at the church and walk the site. The report to the Select Board is due in December, with a separate September deadline noted for the budget cycle.

What was decided

• 4:34
  Accept the minutes of July 18 as amended, with the $10,000 discussion recorded as discussion rather than agreement and the four-to-five-year structural finding attributed to a member's recollection.passed
• 1:59:03
  Adjourn.passed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Worth knowing

• 1:42:30
  A 2018 bid put the full job at $98,000 including a retaining wall, new joists, sill repair and drainage. The 2023 ballpark for lifting the building and replacing the sill and foundation alone is about $100,000, excluding the rotted corner, bathrooms and accessibility work. Five years on, the same money buys noticeably less.
• 4:34
  Members disagreed about what the $10,000 the town voted at town meeting may be spent on. Some understood it was for repair of the sill and could not be used for evaluations or assessments. The committee agreed to retrieve the wording of the town meeting vote rather than rely on recollection.
• 36:53
  A member who works as a procurement officer warned that if work is let without a posted RFP and documented bids, the town could face findings in an audit. The committee agreed the procurement question sits with the Select Board rather than with them, and a member said she would raise it at the Select Board meeting the following Tuesday in a different capacity.
• 31:07
  The building has operated as a museum since 1988 and the Historical Society has run it for about thirty years. Several members said they could not understand why its use was now in question, and noted that repairs had been deferred repeatedly since at least 2018.

Elsewhere

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