Public Safety Building Committee takes steps to stabilize site
By Caitlyn Kelleher Journal Staff Reporter

The site work was designed to work with the original building concept (pictured) but a lack of fund required a new building committee to go back to the drawing board. The site work will remain relatively the same because the building is smaller version of the same footprint of the building.

The Public Safety Building Committee voted to stabilize the site along Center Street after rains washed out some of the ground for the second time.

The committee voted to put in the drainage work along the designed parking area and other areas of the site, as well as to pave the area with a binder coat of asphalt. This came after recommendations from James Rheult of Whitman and Bingham engineering. Rheult said simply installing the plumbing wouldn't work because the water would still absorb into the ground.

"The proper way to do this is under a change order," said David Leger, the project manager.

A change order will be issued for the site work but the paving will be done under the town's existing bid for materials.

The goal is to have the work completed by he first deep frost of the year.

The committee discussed the issue at two meetings in order to get the ground testing back from the engineers and the geo-tech expert.

"I don't think we should wait," committee member Gail Dumont said at the committee's first meeting.

The site had a small collapse for the second time at the beginning of October. This has caused more silt to fall into the wetlands that run along the old rail road tracks at the back of the site. The committee will work with the contractor to get the silt out of the wetlands but is focused more on how to prevent it from happening again.

"The permanent solution is to finish the site," Rheult said. "You need to finish the site." The committee is closing in on final design documents

to send the project out to bid. The site work was begun last year under the former building committee as an attempt to save money with construction costs.

Work started at the site more than a year ago, after the request last spring for additional money for the project failed twice.