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:
• Town Hall, Library, Community Center, Police, Fire
• 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:
• 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.)

• 52 Church (structurally inappropriate for municipal use, multi-level)
• Food Bank (Insufficient food storage; very old mechanical systems; marginal

construction integrity)

• Social Services (inadequate space; no meeting room; no client confidential space)
• Solid Waste Management facilities (transfer station (outdated mechanical

equipment with no replacement parts), stump dump, etc.)

• Boston Street (no utilities or bathroom, (septic?), makeshift layout, limited parking)
• Friends of the Library storage (marginal building lacking utilities or bathroom;

chopped up, multilevel space making movement of people and books difficult)

• 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
• Town Hall South (Cramped, lack of storage(moving Facilities creates a little space)
• Youth & Family Services (storage space in wet basement)
• Town Hall (storage)
• Police facilities (storage)
• 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.)