Additional $250K for DPW City Yard Renovations Gets Initial OK

Renovating the Melrose requires $250,000 more than initially projected, mainly due to a deteriorating roof, city officials told the aldermen's Appropriations Committee last Thursday night.

The committee unanimously recommended 8-0 adding the additional cost to the the aldermen approved last fall for the project. Ward 3 Alderman Frank Wright and Ward 5 Alderman Gail Infurna were not present at the meeting; Alderman at-Large Ron Seaboyer recused himself from the vote as his son, a general contractor, took out one of the bid packets issued by the city for the renovations. The full board will vote on the additional $250,000 at its next meeting.

Bob Beshara, Melrose Public Works superintendent, told the board that the majority of the new funding results from an evaluation of the building provided by an architect hired after the initial $700,000 had been approved by the board.

"The first thing he said is that the roof is near the end of its life," Beshara told the aldermen. "As a result of that—and the fact that we’re going to be hanging things on the inside of the roof and adding skylights—we felt that the time to replace the roof is now, rather than years from now when it would be more costly and difficult."

Ward 4 Alderman Bob Boisselle asked if struts would now be installed on the ceiling as part of the project. Beshara replied that some new structural steel components would be installed to hold equipment that will be hung from the ceiling. There will also be a new second level and mezzanine level built, along with a third stairway going up to those level to provide emergency access out of the building.

"(The mezzanine level will be built) from the ground up," Beshara told Boisselle. "None of the new stuff is going on the building. It would trigger a different building code and the old building couldn’t handle it.

Energy efficient upgrades in new request too

Another $50,000 in the new request results from the Melrose Energy Commission, which reviewed the plans for the building and made some recommendations to take advantage of energy credits from National Grid, Beshara said, and installing an energy management system similar to the systems now at Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School and Memorial Hall.

"The controls heating in every office, cubicle and operates lighting as well through a computerized system," he said. "It can be done in the dispatch office or at someone’s home."

Alderman at-Large Jackie Lavender Bird, in one of her first votes as a member of the board, asked if the city had estimated how much it will save with the energy management system and energy efficient upgrades.

Estimates were not available yet, Beshara said, adding, "We need to have a baseline of what the energy costs are now and what they’ll be later."

With "five gigantic doors" that aren't always closed by workers driving in and out of the building, despite Beshara's entrieties—"We've had about as much luck there as at City Hall," he said—Melrose City Planner Denise Gaffey suggested installing an alarm on the doors that will go off in the dispatch office when the doors are left open, another attempt at reducing heating and energy costs.

"In the spring and summer it’s one thing," Beshara said. "Sometimes I walk through that building and it’s so cold, because guys jump in trucks and take off and don’t close the door."

Gaffey said that the additional energy-saving measures at the City Yard will help the city reach its goal of reducing baseline energy use by 20 percent within five years, a plan developed as the city sought last year to earn a .

Beshara also lauded the work by the members of the all-volunteer Energy Commission, noting their work at Memorial Hall and past work with the DPW in converting the city's traffic signals to LEDs.

"They provide a tremendous amount of help to Public Works and to me over the years," he said. "They put a lot of time into studies and determinations ... you guys have a great Energy Commission out there. They do a lot of stuff on their own."

Patrick Dello Russo, Melrose city auditor and chief financial officer, said the city has not borrowed any funding yet for the project. Tentative plans call for using three years of bond anticipation notes (BANs)—short-term bonds—before permanently borrowing for the project, Dello Russo said, and the additional $250,000 will not cause the city to go over its self-imposed limit of having 5 percent of the city's budget going towards paying off debt.

The length of all the bonds, short-term and long-term, would total 25 years, Dello Russo said.

Beshara said the renovations will likely take six weeks and that bids for the work will be opened in about four weeks. Most of the department is now working out of trailers, he added, as they slowly move workers out of the building in anticipation of work getting underway.