With construction about to begin on the renovation of Town Hall, the Woodstock Town Board on July 10 finalized details of the long-awaited project, including the temporary relocation of the three municipal departments — police, emergency dispatch, and justice court — with offices in the building.
Voting unanimously in each instance, the board passed four resolutions related to the renovation, which is expected to get under way by the end of July and take up to five months to complete. During that time the three departments, along with their furnishings and equipment, will occupy temporary quarters adjoining the main town office building at 45 Comeau Drive.
In one action the board awarded a $3,575 contract to Allways Moving & Storage, a Kingston firm that submitted the low bid, for one-way transportation of the office furnishings from Town Hall to the Comeau Drive site.
A second resolution involved the rental and modification of the temporary quarters for the departments. The board agreed to hire John Bilotti for carpentry services, at a rate of $45 an hour, and to rent three storage units of different sizes from Mobile Mini, which has a regional office in Feura Bush, New York. The base monthly charge for the three containers is $260, but the bill for the first month, which includes delivery and installation fees, will be approximately $1,900.
The board also resolved to hire Alpine Environmental Services, at a fee not to exceed $1,600 to conduct tests for the presence of asbestos and lead at Town Hall, as required by new labor regulations that include a more stringent standard for testing. Alpine is based in Middletown, Connecticut.
The fourth resolution authorized the project’s engineer, Novus Engineering, to execute drawings that will detail pollution-prevention procedures to be followed by Barney and Sons Well Drilling, the company that will drill wells for a geothermal heating and cooling system at Town Hall. The measures will seek to prevent the contamination of off-site properties and waterways. Novus will receive a fee of up to $1,500 for the drawings, which will also describe procedures for the proper off-site disposal of drilling fluids.
The Town Board meeting lasted less than an hour. Other items on the agenda included the following.
Fee collection. Filling gaps in the language of the zoning law, the board authorized the Planning Board to collect fees from subdivision applicants to cover the costs of legal, engineering, or consultant services that the town might incur in processing an application. The board also authorized the Zoning Board of Appeals to collect fees for similar costs that might result from deliberations or actions by the ZBA.
Food pantry news. Thurman Greco, who is coordinator of the Good Neighbor Food Pantry (GNFP), announced that the organization is seeking volunteers to assist with a fund-raising event, a music festival scheduled to take place from noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 8, at Andy Lee Field. Greco thanked board members and townspeople for their support of a recent GNFP food drive, adding that the pantry has also begun to sell tickets for a 50-50 raffle. Call 417-5535 for information about volunteering for the September 8 festival, which will feature bands, barbecue and vegetarian food, a healer’s tent, and free activities for children.
David Corbett. Woodstock supervisor Jeremy Wilber read a fond remembrance of longtime resident and dedicated volunteer David Corbett, who died recently. Asserting that Corbett, whose work as a volunteer included leadership of the Comeau Trails Task Force, “made an indelible mark on Woodstock,” Wilber added that the town, while mourning his passing, will continue to enjoy the fruits of his efforts.
Extra work and pay. The board approved changes to two work orders by outside contractors on separate projects. In the first case, Arold Construction Company will receive $1,500 for additional work needed to replace the support for a municipal water main under the Tannery Brook bridge, bringing the total cost of the contract to $3,975. In the second instance, the town will pay George Finsrud $450 for additional cement work to secure paving stones at the site of the new “pocket park” overlooking the waterfall off Tannery Brook Road. The total cost of the revised contract is $3,950.