Thanks to Chair Pols

We received this message from Council Chair this morning, presumably as a result of the email we sent to the council earlier in the morning:

I am asking the building committee to seek an assessment and estimate of costs for work to be done on the exterior of McClellan. 

My hope would be that the assessment would include some guidance regarding the nature of work that should be done promptly (or soon anyway) along with what can be deferred and for how long.

I'll also be asking them to obtain documentation from the college regarding when it was last painted including costs etc. They were very prompt in providing a breakdown of operating costs when they were asked.

Benet

We appreciate his prompt response, and told him so in this reply:

Thanks; appreciate the action oriented response.

Let me give you something to think about that applied to the repairs on my house.

You're probably aware of Azek trim boards.  Great stuff, basic color is white, won't rot, and takes paint well.

Also very expensive compared to the wood it would replace.

But here's another thing to ponder.  Paint failing on wood is a 'tell.'  It reveals some underlying problem, almost always water related. 

If you have Azek on top, you lose the 'tell' angle, and you are left to wonder how bad something underneath gets before it finally shows itself by other means, like the Azek falling off because the nails no longer hold or some such.

One of those little dilemmas in construction materials.  Just like using Hardy Board siding, etc.

Not sure what is really best.

PS: who/what is the 'building committee?'  And does the town have a single point of responsibility, accountability, and authority on building maintenance?

He replied again with this:

The building committee is specific to McClellan. It was Knight, Watson & Favreau, now Perreault, Watson & Favreau. It had planned on going out of business with the completion of construction but I intend to keep it going for the short term anyway as I expect we'll have some hiccups/punch lists remaining after we move in and possibly some move-in issues.

I do not think there is a single point of authority on building issues other than the manager.

Can you guess what question we’re adding to our new list??

And for those interested, we’re dropping off a CD at the town offices tomorrow containing all the photos we took, and we’re told we should not expect payment for doing so.  That’s OK; we’d settle for a 10% credit on next year’s property taxes.

Or in municipal parlance, ‘forgiveness’ of 10% of our tax bill.

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