Meeting called to order at 6:03pm by Select Board Liaison Mel Pfeifle. Members of the committee introduced themselves: Kris Foss, Bruce Gezelman, Anne Kratz, Pat Moreland, Bryan Nowell, Mel Pfeifle and Tracey Quigley.
Mel Pfeifle asked for volunteers to Chair the committee, unanimous vote for Kris Foss to Chair and Tracey Quigley to be minute taker.
Chair Foss suggested that the committee address how meeting would be structured starting with public input. It was discussed and agreed that a public input time slot would be on each agenda. Public input would be in the form of comments not a question-and-answer session. Items requiring discussion can be added to a future agenda. Input from the public can also be emailed to the committee via the town administrator and forward to the Chair.
Committee will follow the Town of Bradford’s Rules of Procedure as adopted 3/28/2022. A copy of which will be emailed to the committee by Tracey (ACTION ITEM).
The committee discussed meeting dates and times and agreed to meet twice a month to start and revisit later in the year. Meetings would be on Wednesdays; some dates might have to be adjusted to fit in with other committee meetings scheduled. The deadline for the committee would be Town meeting 2024 to present warrant article.
Warrant articles need to be before the Select Board in November at the latest December. A public hearing should be scheduled before the town meeting.
Important to get monies budgeted through the CIP process for whatever option is picked for the future of the building.
The committee agreed to start the next meeting with a Site visit to get a firsthand view of the building and site.
Then our brainstorming would continue from the public meeting held and flush out ideas for options for the buildings. Questions were asked about the warrant article wording. The warrant article was read into record by Tracey. Comments were made from the public that Select Board at the time chose the wording flexible to cover option of having police station possibly in the building and to protect right of way and discrepancy with fire house building and boundary.
Options will be brainstormed at upcoming meetings after we have toured the site. Kris brought up the idea to use what is called a “parking lot” where if the committee is held up by an item, it is put in the parking lot to be tabled, researched or revisited.
Our charge is to: Identify the options for the Masonic Hall’s future, including costs associated with each option, for the purpose of informing the path forward for the building.
The Committee agreed it should have recommendations by mid-October.
The Committee started to outline the main options of demolishing, moving, selling building, reusing that were put forward at the public meeting with comments to remember some ideas might have crossover and we can be creative with ideas and cost effectiveness. Options for residential use, commercial use, whether the town wants the responsibility of another building. Issues affecting those would be lack of parking, lack of town funds to upkeep the building, having other group uses for the building, what are the ADA implications, moving the building to a town-owned piece of land and selling. These could be further investigated as the process moves forward. Main options will be looked at more in depth and brainstormed starting with the next meeting.
The idea was brought up to see if someone in town who had 3d computer design qualifications would be willing to help us with some visuals. Bruce offered to see if he could use his program (ACTION) and Anne offered to investigate some art programs she uses (ACTION). All agreed a 3-D visual with the building gone and what it would look like after would be useful for all.
Tracey asked Mel as Select Board liaison about a realistic funding timeline of whatever version of the project is decided on in March 2024. No monies are currently proposed for the building in the CIP. Mel responded that it would probably be more than a one-year funding option unless the town voted otherwise, and the cost would then have a direct impact on the taxpayer in that year. Bryan brought us that the only way the committee could request money from the Town is by warrant. Tracey commented that the building needs money spent on it now so we should weigh that up against costs for a permanent solution. Grants were discussed with the view to be explored if suitable later. Bryan brought up that some items will cost money and the committee does not have a budget, for example, looking into asbestos or lead issues, and maybe some surveying needs. Where do we get funds to pay for these items?
A list of items that must be researched no matter what option is decided will be started: Items to go in it so far would be Asbestos and Lead. The list will be started by Tracey and added to at the next meeting (ACTION).
Site meeting provisionally set for July 12th, 6pm at the site and then at BACC for discussion. Bryan asked if someone could get exact boundary lines of the lots, Annie offered to investigate that and get copies of site plan/maps that are available to us (ACTION). Tracey will get minutes out as soon as possible and Kris will follow up with details and agenda of next meeting (ACTION).
It was agreed to keep meetings to an hour and a half maximum 6-7:30pm.
Motion to adjourn by Pat, second Bruce. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 7:25pm.