Commissioners don’t tinker much with CIP projects
Toward the close of Tuesday evening’s two-hour-plus work session on the 2016-2021 Capital Improvements Plan (CIP), two town staff said the leaks which have plagued the Wake Forest Town Hall since it was completed should be treated individually.
But Facilities Manager Mickey Rochelle said he wants to get a second opinion about the leaks that will include some checking of the leaks. He wants to repair the situation only where there is a leak and save money.
So your recommendation is to Band-aid the situation?” Commissioner Brian Pate asked. Rochelle said that, even if the entire façade is removed, which could cost $2 million, there is no assurance against future leaks because “things shift. It’s not really a Band-aid.”
JJ Carr, head of the inspections department, said there are five leaks. “In my opinion, all but one are basically maintenance issues.” The only one that is not is the place which has been leaking since the beginning – a second-floor conference room near the round meeting chamber, Carr said. For the four leaks, he said “most waterproofing has a warranty on it.” He mentioned the south side where there is metal meeting caulking and the stairway from the ground floor up to the first and second floors.
Town Manager Kip Padgett has included $190,000 in the Asset Maintenance section of the CIP for leak repairs at town hall in the 2016-2017 budget year beginning in July with $38,000 for more ordinary maintenance in two future years, $40,000 in the third. During the town board’s winter planning retreat, an engineer, Steven J. Walker, called the town hall’s construction “terrible” and described the shoddy construction he found when called in to check out the leaks that developed since the 2013-2014 winter when the town paid over half a million to repair the leaks that began shortly after it was occupied in 2010. (See the Feb. 3 issue of the Gazette for a full description about the leak problems.)
The work session began with Finance Director Aileen Staples describing the process of placing projects on the CIP and ranking them. She also talked about how to pay for capital projects, which include general obligation bonds, installment purchase agreements, grants and some general funds. She reminded the commissioners new projects add operating costs. “It will cost $500,000 a year to operate Joyner Park” after the second phase is built with its new community center.
As the commissioners worked through the sections, an item in the first section, Management Information Systems, a digital kiosk on South White Street suggested by the Technology Advisory Board, drew fire because of the cost, $75,000. “Is it made of gold?” Pate asked. He said he could not see spending that amount of money “for something [wi-fi] I can get for free. I like the idea. I’m all about connectivity. I’m not about connectivity at that price.”
Later, Commissioner Margaret Stinnett said she wanted to see wi-fi capability expanded to Brooks Street and all of the downtown Renaissance area. “I feel like the side streets [off South White] are stepchildren. MIS Director Tom LaBarge will return to the board with ideas about expanding wi-fi in the area.
There no objections to more patrol vehicles for the police department or a replacement surveillance vehicle – the current one is 26 years old and needs repair – but Wake Forest Police Captain Darren Abbacchi, head of special operations, drew a lot of questions about $250,000 in 2018-2019 for a backup communications center and $295,000 way down the road for a mobile command vehicle. Everyone seemed satisfied when he said the command vehicle would be purchased jointly with the Wake Forest Fire Department. “We’d love to have them both but we have to go [first] with the hard-wire backup,” the backup communications center. Pate asked if they were talking “about a tower somewhere,” and Abbacchi said no, it would be a secure facility in a secondary location away from the communications center in the main police station on Taylor Street, a place where operators and others would be safe in the event of a tornado or other natural disaster or something else unforeseen. Stinnett asked about a basement, and Abbacchi said the Raleigh central communications center is two stories underground below the decorative fountain in front of city hall. Raleigh is currently the town’s secondary backup for emergency communications.
Pate pushed for urgency in the state Department of Transportation erecting a traffic signal at Heritage Club Avenue and Heritage Lake Road as well as building sidewalks on Heritage Lake from the Smith Creek Soccer Center to that intersection. “We’re putting off the traffic analysis [for the warrant for that signal] until after the [Rogers Road] bridge replacement is done,” Director of Engineering Eric Keravuori said.
The planned Joyner Park community center with three side-by-side basketball/volleyball courts will help ease the cost of renting courts in local schools — $60,000 a year – Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Director Ruben Wall told Commissioner Jim Thompson. But the pressure for courts will continue to grow, he said. Wall also said is a need to replace the irrigation system and sod at the Flaherty Park ballfields. “The irrigation at Flaherty is old and was used one time when it drained the pond. It won’t come back to life. Those fields really need it,” Wall said. Cost $365,000 over three years.
That led to a brief discussion about a disc golf course ($75,000) and how players want to have obstacles like trees on the course. “Do you have to provide everything people want?” Commissioner Greg Harrington asked and drew a small chorus of “Yes.” Pate asked if they were talking about 50 or 500 players, and Wall said, “More like 5,000” because of tournaments. Harrington suggested a public/private partnership to build the course, and Wall said, “If someone wants to pay for it and put their name on it, we’ll take it.”
When it came to the renovations for the Renaissance Centre ($302,000) Pate, who has retired from a career as a DJ, said he wanted to make sure the proper audio equipment is in there to accommodate the big bands Manager Cathy Gouge is attracting. (The building began life as a drugstore and before the town purchased it as a cultural arts center was a bar and dance facility, Tuxedo Junction.)
Pate said several times he had trouble understanding the center is not making money. “I don’t buy that idea.” Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said it was never intended to make money but to draw people into downtown, and it hosts a number of free events. “Most facilities this size do not make money. The best you can do is to have the operations covered, not the personnel.” Harrington said, “We offer what we can. It’s never going to be a money-maker, but I still think it’s something we need.”
The commissioners agreed on the A list – software upgrades; security alarms, cameras and door access to town properties; roadway lighting; and maintenance for several town-owned properties – and asked the town staff to go as far down as possible in the B list. The A list cost is just over $3 million; the B list is headed by $37,500 for rehabilitation of the Ailey Young House with $17,500 already secured from other sources. The CIP does project spending about $40,000 in coming years to complete the renovations at the house. Mayor Vivian said she was “glad to see it in here. It’s something very important for us to be involved in.”
The CIP will be on the board’s agenda as it moves toward adopting an operating budget and the CIP for the coming fiscal year.
One Response
Mr.Pate mentions traffic light and sidewalk needs, which I grew with. But, what about pushing the DOT for urgency in constructing the already-funded traffic light that was supposed to appear (at last update to the public) as soon as the December holidays concluded? I have witnessed near-accidents here recently and wonder what in the world happened to this project– and, why are residents not updated when promised dates of construction come and go with nothing happening?