Town of Gray
Community Economic Development Committee
Wednesday – June 18, 2008
Meeting Notes
Attendees: Jeanne Carpentier (Chair), Jack Goosetrey (Vice Chair), Don Hutchings, Tom Delaney, Ralph Wink (Secretary)
Guests: Jeanne Bibber, Louise Knapp, Leona Crooker, Karen Taylor
1. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Jeanne Carpentier
2. Design Concepts – Town Village Facilities
A. Needs Assessment - Tom presented the needs assessment for the various town departments. Tom obtained information from several town employers regarding their space needs and meshed that information with his technical expertise to arrive at an assessment that is deemed to be accurate for approximately 10 years in the future. The needs assessment concludes that 6,500 square feet of space is needed for office space and 4,500 of space is needed for a town meeting location. Tom stressed that the figure does not include corridor and access space since that is often impacted by that specific design of the facility. Don
mentioned that he recalls that the existing space at the town office is about 3,600 square feet. Tom also mentioned that a design that utilized a multi-use strategy and a meeting place that is also used for other purposes could reduce the needs accordingly. Tom also stressed that he suggests the new facilities be designed with a high building insulation factor and possibly utilize an alternative energy source. The CEDC members strongly supported Tom’s suggestion that the new facilities be build to sound quality, practical plans, current insulation standards and applicable alternative energy sources. Jeanne expressed appreciation to Tom for donating his personal time and expertise to the community for his work.
B. Market Analysis – Jeanne asked Don if he was able to contact Boulos regarding market analysis information. Don said that his contact referred him to Mark Fisher (President of Boulos) and that Mr. Fisher was very helpful. Mr. Fisher advised that there are two methods to obtain a realistic market analysis of town facilities. One is called a Brokers Process and one an RFP Process. Mr. Fisher advised that Boulos would complete a market value analysis of town facilities, by visiting the various buildings and using standard evaluation techniques, at no cost if they are requested to do so by either the Town Manager
or the Town Council. The RFP process would involve the town providing detailed information to several organizations and obtaining formal evaluations from several organizations to arrive at the final value analysis. The formal process is slightly more accurate, but he felt that the Broker process would be adequate for the initial market analysis.
3. The Chair then deviated from the Agenda to have discussion on a letter sent by the Gray Historical Society concerning a building maintenance issue with the main entrance to the old section of the Pennell building. Leona and Louise advised that the entrance to the old section of Pennell had been condemned by the CEO pending a on site investigation regarding some wooden slats that had fallen from the ceiling of the canopy over the building entrance which obviously temporarily prevents public access to the Historical Society displays. The Society has requested the Town provide that a new lock be installed at a secondary entrance to allow
access to the building until the canopy matter is repaired. The Chair advised that the CEDC has been charged with developing design concepts for town properties, including Pennell, but that the responsibility for building maintenance lies with the Town. Don offered to meet with the Town Manager on Thursday on behalf of the Historical Society in an attempt to develop a practical plan for temporary access to the building.
4. Return to Design Concepts Discussion
The chair summarized the previous discussion regarding the Design Concepts and stated that the CEDC has completed an initial Needs Analysis and she is hopeful that we will be getting Market Analysis information from Boulos in the near future. A general discussion followed regarding the next steps to provide the Town with information needed to move decide upon a town facilities action plan concluded that we now needed to return to the various design concepts and visions obtained via the survey. The group agreed to meet on an accelerated meeting schedule to complete the details for the alternatives. It was agreed that we needed consensus on the concept plans to be developed followed by more specific plans for each concept. It was agreed that we would develop each concept as a
group embellishing each concept with thoughts and ideas for refining and strengthening each concept. Once the various concept options are completed, we will need to obtain some realistic cost estimates for each concept. Both Don and Tom stated that they believe they know some people in the community with design experience who would be willing to assist us in obtaining estimates prior to offering the final report to the community and the Town Council for a final selection and implementation.
5. Downtown Appearance Jeanne advised that Manny of Manny Motors and George Thebarge have initiated discussions regarding improvement possibilities in east side Village
6. Route 100 Beautification Jeanne has initiated dialog with both the local MDOT representative and the “Not Your Mothers Garden Club” in the hoes that the area can be made more visually appealing.
7. Pennell Script The script for the Pennell video is in the final edit stage.
8. Additional Work Shop Meetings for Vision Concept Development Jeanne advised she would contact us via email to establish a time for the workshop meeting.
9. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 PM.
10. Next regular meeting will be at Stimson Hall from 6:30 to 8:30 on July 16.
Respectfully submitted
Ralph Wink - Secretary
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