By Jonathan L'Ecuyer
Staff Writer
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ROCKPORT — As the town prepares for next week's acquisition of the former Granite Savings Bank building, the Department of Public Works has been given the green light to begin readying the building for its first new inhabitants.
The town is scheduled to close on the building, located adjacent to Town Hall on Broadway, on July 8.
On Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen voted to allow the DPW Board of Commissioners to commence "Phase I" of the bank building project, which includes initial repairs and retrofitting of the building to allow town employees to move into the building "as soon as possible," Town Administrator Linda Sanders said.
While it's long been known the building will be used as municipal office space — at least in the short term, while Town Hall is being renovated — questions had remained about which departments would move into building, and for how long.
While no official decisions have been made regarding which departments will be moving in the bank building, talks during a June 8 workshop meeting involving the selectmen, DPW, and Building Study Committee implied the DPW and other inspectional offices would likely become the bank building's first occupants.
Public Works Director Joseph Parisi said the selectmen's Tuesday vote gives DPW Commissioners permission to hire a designer to determine what offices would be best located in either building.
"It's a start," Parisi said. "We don't want to acquire the building and not have a plan developed."
The Building Study Committee measured the space currently used by each department at Town Hall, then created draft floor plans of the adjacent bank building, incorporating those offices into the space.
"Town Hall and the bank projects are definitely linked," Parisi said. "We're trying to keep business going while (renovation) work is (taking place)."
It's likely that the larger Town Hall offices — like those inhabited by the clerk, treasurer, accountant, and town administrator — would remain in Town Hall, officials said.
Voters at spring Town Meeting approved the town's acquisition of the Broadway building for $699,500, and went on to back an amendment that allowed the town to seal the deal without going through a Proposition 21/2 override vote.
The town's Planning Board, Building Study Committee and Capital Improvement Planning Committee have all been working on long-range plans for the town's municipal buildings, and late last year decided the needs of Town Hall should finally rise to the top of Rockport's list of priorities.
Officials who supported the bank building's purchase referenced a 1997 study of town-owned buildings and a 2000 Smart Planning Report that both recommended increasing office space for Town Hall to accommodate a growing staff and expanding state and federal mandates for additional programs.
Planning Board officials have noted that crowded conditions, shared work space and the lack of departmental conference space compromise the delivery of services, confidentiality and efficiency at Town Hall.
The Building Study Committee offered two possible solutions to alleviate Town Hall's crowded conditions.
The first would be to construct a 2,800-square-foot addition to the back of the existing Town Hall; the other was to acquire new space.
Officials said the usable office space in the bank building is "somewhat greater" than that proposed for an addition, but firm cost estimates for retrofitting the two-story building are still unknown, officials said.
Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at 978-283-7000 x 3451 or jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.
