Public Safety Buildings Project Update

Transcript (~1 h 19 min @ 58:17)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 58:14 Mark Garipay: Alright, we are onto the one item on our agenda. Informational item ID 1 2 7 9 8 Public safety building project update. And we have a team of people in front of us. We have the mayor Denise Gaffney, and I'm not sure everyone else, but you'll introduce yourself. But I'll hand it over to the Mayor Floor's. Yours

▶ 58:36 Jen Grigoraitis: Chairman. Um, so yes, we have our, uh, team here tonight to provide you all with an update on our progress to date on the Public Safety Building project. I think as those, as you all are well aware, in November of 2023, there was a successful debt exclusion vote where, um, members of the Melrose community voted to fund the renovation slash um, build of new of our four public safety buildings. And so we wanted to let you know where things stand. Um, we have the full team here tonight, so I'm gonna step back to let the content experts, um, speak. But just wanted to acknowledge that we have here with us tonight. Um, Don Walter from DO Whittier are our architect, John Lemu from Vertex, which is our owner project manager. Did I get that right? Yes. Yeah. Great. Um, another members of the Vertex and Dorn Whittier team. We also have Denise Gaffey, who is our in-house project manager for this project. Both Chief Fowler and Chief White from the Police and Fire Departments. Jason Chen from our Public Safety Facilities advisory Committee. One of our resident members of course, councilor Hamilton, who is serving as the council member of that committee. And then Elena Ellis, our Director of Public work. So it is a robust group of people who are working. There is a lot of work happening on a near daily basis. Um, we have monthly public safety facilities committee meetings, biweekly user group meetings with police and fire where we really kind of drill down on the specific specifics of each building. Um, and then internal meetings where we talk about the various components of this project. Um, we're just about at the phase where the, um, first of the fire stations is gonna go out to bid. So we can get into more detail about that. And just for those that wanna follow along at home on the public safety projects tab of the city website, you can find all of the documents that are reviewed by the Public Safety Facilities Committee each month, including a monthly update from Vertex of where we are to date. So we've really tried to take in the feedback we've heard from folks since we were last altogether to provide more information out to the public. So I'm grateful for all of the work that has happened. I'm excited to have them share it with you tonight and I'm gonna turn it over to the team.

▶ 1:00:41 Speaker 4: Alright, so good evening everybody. Uh, uh, John Lemu from Vertex as a owners project manager, um, Don Walter from Do Whittier. Uh, our agenda for tonight is to first talk to you a little bit more in detail about the schedule. Then Don's gonna do, uh, an update on the design of, of the projects. And then we will round it out with where we are currently with the budget. So, getting started, I know this is hard to see, um, but what this will show you first of all is our dropdown red line in the middle is really where we are right now. Um, as the mayor said, we are very quickly getting to a time where the first project engine two is going out for bid. Um, we can tell you that there's incredible interest in the project. Um, we are in the middle of the process known as prequalification. Right now, any public project that spends over $10 million is required to pre-qualify subs and GCs. We have a group of subs, uh, numbering over 120 at this point that looks like we're going to pre-qualify, um, to bid. And GCs were looked to be around six or seven, um, that will end up having qualified GCs to bid. That becomes our bidding pool. And again, lots of, uh, those are just the ones that are qualifying. There's lots of non, uh, filed sub bid trades that are also pulling the plans. I think it's over, uh, 200 if we include were to include all of them. So again, some great interest, you know, more interest equals you know, hopefully lower numbers. You know, for the city. Um, that bidding process is going to start on August 13th, um, with the first bids due back September 10th with the GC bids due sometime around September 24th. That can always slide a few days here and there based on if we get questions and we need to give them a little bit more time if we need to issue an addendum of those sorts of things. But anyway, that's the, uh, project, uh, bid duration in general. We would look to have an award of that contract sometime in the following three weeks. So around early October with construction starting mid-October and lasting until May of 2027. That's a, uh, 20 month duration. Uh, in total. The police station really is kind of almost hand in hand with it for a period of time. We looked at doing the jobs in tandem, but do some, some, uh, questions that came up on the design. Um, some very good feedback from the neighborhood that design took a little bit longer to finish. So that project is, is about two months behind. So it's actually, um, great that we get to get it out there the first, the fire engines, uh, station two out there. And then we're gonna go right behind and start the prequalification process for the police. Um, could be a completely, could be a very similar set of bidders, could be a completely different set of bidders. But regardless we're expecting some very similar, uh, interest in the project. So we would be looking to bid that project between October and December. We're still working on as a team to figure we think we can get it done and bid before we get to the December to January holiday period. You never want to bid a project over that. And if you do bid over that period, you want to put it way out into January. So we think we're going to be able to give it adequate time, more than adequate time to have competitive bids before we get to the Christmas holidays. And then that project would run roughly from December of 25 through July of 27.

▶ 1:04:10 Speaker 4: So not quite as well developed yet, is really the, you know, specifics on the third and fourth project, engine three and, and Central, obviously, we need to get engine two done and open because it becomes really important as swing space to effectively do the next two fire projects. And that's why those two projects would not be constructed, um, concurrently where police and fire the first two will be. Um, we can't do that with the remaining two fire projects. They, one has to go first and then the other has to go second. Um, and we would look to the, uh, construction period for the engine three project at this time, to be from August of 27 to March of 29, and then rounding out with Central from May of 29 to December of, of 2030. And with that, I'll turn it over to Don and I'll be back when we get back to budget.

▶ 1:05:02 Speaker 9: The fun Stuff. The fun stuff. Mm-hmm. Okay. So I'm gonna take you through the, um, where we are with the, currently with the design. But before we get into that, I just want to talk a little bit about the program and how we develop the spaces that are in the buildings. Um, just as you know, this project's been going on since 2017. Uh, we've had the pleasure of working with the city throughout the, uh, the whole duration, but we have a, a process that we do in-house. We have an in-house, uh, public safety programmer, uh, and designer. And he develops a, uh, survey questionnaire that goes out to, uh, staff or the chiefs and their staff in both, uh, both facilities. And based upon the feedback that we get, we start to develop the list of spaces and the sizes of spaces that need to go in, uh, in both buildings. And with that, we don't just accept those and say, okay, here you go. This is what your building's gonna be. We, we, it's very iterative. We talk, we go back and forth. Uh, we have a lot of meetings, which you'll see on our next slide. And we get to a place where we say, okay, this, this feels comfortable. This looks like this is what's gonna work for, for Melrose. So what you see on the, the slide here is how woefully inadequate engine two is, right? The existing square footage is only 7,400 square feet. When we did the feasibility study in 2017, it was over 28,000 square feet, and we worked to maybe whittle it down a bit in 23, down to 27, uh, thousand 200, finally bringing it down to where we are today, which is just under 24,000 square feet. So saving about savings, about 15,000, uh, 15% on the original program. So, uh, just wanna let everyone here know and the community know that we've been working hard with the fire department, with the city to be very cost conscious and make sure we're providing space that is needed, not just not space that may be in excess of what's needed for the, uh, the fire department. And same process we went through with the, uh, with the police department. We've also had, uh, public meetings, uh, neighborhood meetings, uh, weekly user group meetings, which consist of, uh, the chief and, and his staff, uh, the advisory committee, uh, which ward sits on, we meet, uh, uh, monthly, sometimes bimonthly, depending on, uh, what's on the agenda. Uh, the multiple vendor meetings that you see that's for, uh, communications and equipment, all kinds of things that are gonna go into the building, which may not be part of the actual construction. And then everything's been, uh, updated regularly on the, uh, the city's website through Vertex. So in terms of the design, uh, what you're seeing here is the existing site on the corner of, uh, Tremont and Melrose. The new facility, what's larger than the existing building, uh, consists of three apparatus bay and a maintenance bay. Um, so that, that helps to set the footprint for the building, right? 'cause those are, those are the pieces of equipment obviously, that need to be on the ground floor. There's other spaces on the ground floor that you see in a minute that, uh, uh, are in support of those spaces. Um, maintenance, storage and office, decontamination, SCBA rooms and things of that nature. And over to the right off of Melrose is that little white box is actually the main entrance, main pedestrian entrance to the, um, to the building off of Melrose and a little bit of a pocket park, kind of a, a give back to the city, uh, potential for some memorials out there for firefighters and, um, fire personnel parking on site that wouldn't be visitor parking, but fire personnel, uh, parking on site. The first floor, um, you can see here the three apparatus bays in the center of the maintenance bay, uh, over to the left with their support space in the middle, uh, storage, uh, decontamination. Uh, when firefighters come back from a call, uh, depending on, uh, what it is, what the incident is, uh, there is ro decontamination and showering and washing of gear that's required. This is something that's hugely important now to, uh, rid the equipment of carcinogens and contaminants, uh, and allow a firefighter to wash before going up into the, uh, the living and the administrative area. So all the dirty stuff stays, uh, down in all this, this red area over to the right, you can see the main entrance vestibule and a, a lobby, which is serving a couple purposes. It's, it's, it's such that, uh, that swing space that John mentioned can be put into, uh, engine two when the other facilities are being constructed. It's also set up where it can be a place for some, um, some, um, some of the heritage of the fire department displaying perhaps an antique fire apparatus, things of that nature, which will be on display to the public, which is actually kind of nice. And then there's some public toilets, and you see two stairs, the, the kind of the tan color stairs, which act as stairs to get to the upper level, as well as, uh, opportunities for training. So onsite training for the, uh, for the fire department. And there is an elevator. So the building will be fully handicap, uh, accessible when you go up to the, uh, the second floor. If you look in the upper right hand corner, you can see that training, stair and elevator. Uh, the red spaces are, that's administration, uh, resource space, conference room. And then along the front, moving your way around to the left side are, uh, part of the living space of the dorm spaces, the associated toilet shower rooms and wash rooms. You can see a, a day room. And then in the back there is a dining kitchen and a fitness area. So, um, very compact in its design. Very efficient in its design. Uh, and you can see that with the stairs off to the corners, uh, with fire pulse, uh, really ease of access from the second floor down to the, uh, to the apparatus page below. So in terms of the building imagery, uh, as you've noted it, it's, it's a two story building. Uh, we look to a lot of the other municipal and community buildings, uh, in the city, and we wanted to be complimentary of what the city already has. So you're seeing a brick building, uh, with some caststone. Uh, the, the white that you're seeing, it's really more, they're kind of gray metal panels. So it's not just an old building, but it's also looking forward the idea of, uh, the tower is reminiscent of an old fire hose drying tower, uh, that you see in many, uh, older facilities. But you can see the three apparatus bays, uh, and the maintenance bay. And over to the right, that lobby space where, uh, something special could be on display, uh, view, looking up, uh, remont, um, get a nice perspective on the facility, looking towards the intersection. And then from the intersection of Remont and Melrose, again, you can see the, uh, the fi old fire apparatus on display in the corner in the main entrance to the, uh, to the right with that, that vestibule, uh, bump out. So that's engine two. Moving on to the police, again, same process we went through with, excuse me. Oh, I'm sorry. Would, would it be

▶ 1:12:15 Mark Garipay: Okay if we, uh, ask questions while they're still fresh? Absolutely. Are you okay with that? Sure. Yep. Ask some que anyone wants to ask questions regarding the fire. Mm-hmm. I have Council Jamal, and then Councilor Williams.

▶ 1:12:27 Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you. I thank you.

▶ 1:12:29 Maya Jamaleddine: Uh, chairman, I, this is amazing. I really wanted to take a moment to thank you all for the hard work, uh, not only working on this project, but also on updating, uh, the community and us, uh, on all the progress that you've all been, uh, working on and making. Um, I do have couple of questions and one feedback, if you don't mind. Um, um,

▶ 1:13:00 Maya Jamaleddine: during the, um, like construction and the work, um, knowing that it's Trimont and Marrow Street, um, and going, you know, this is a busy street, going to school, middle school, high school, and Roosevelt School, is there any plan or is it going to make any distraction for, um, those that are commuting or going to in this direction

▶ 1:13:26 Speaker 9: During construction? Yes. No, um, we, we will maintain the, the public sidewalk and obviously, sorry, uh, the, the public streets will be, uh, available too. It's, it's a very tight site, but a contractor will be inside of fence, uh, can totally contain within the site.

▶ 1:13:45 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. So there will be no changes, um, that the public are going to be impacted on in terms of which road they will be taking when going to Roosevelt or going to the high school and middle school.

▶ 1:14:00 Speaker 9: That on a regular basis, yes. Any, um, days where there may be utility tie-ins, there could be some disruption then, but that would be limited and there would be some notifica notification that that would go out from the contractor to the city. So the city would be made aware and the public can be notified of that. Awesome.

▶ 1:14:18 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. Okay. Um, the next question is, uh, you know, looking at, um, there is no number for that, uh, uh, page, but I'm looking at all those, uh, different, uh, rooms and I was, um, attracted by the training stairs and all those different, uh, uh, rooms. Uh, did we, do we have that in a current, uh, building or these are something that we are adding into?

▶ 1:14:51 Speaker 9: So in terms of the living space, are you thinking the dorm space we're sleeping or just in general?

▶ 1:14:57 Maya Jamaleddine: In, in, well, in terms of like, do we have, for instance, training stairs, stairs, do we have, uh, the maintenance office, do we have the wash and dry, uh, decon? Or are these things that we are adding to it? Well,

▶ 1:15:11 Speaker 9: The right, the, well, there are no stairs in the existing 'cause it's, it's one story, but the, um, the training stair, for instance, is something that we created out of a stair that's necessary for egress. Mm-hmm. Right. So it's, it's kind of found space and you utilize that for training purposes without adding cost to the, uh, to the project. In terms of some of the other spaces, there's spaces that they may not have in the facility today, but they should have, they should have it right to be a, a modern operating fire station. So it just goes to show how inadequate this current station is.

▶ 1:15:47 Maya Jamaleddine: Yeah, that's, that's great. I think, um, it's needed, um, the only feedback that I have and, um, I noticed that we called one room, uh, mother's room, and if we can make it more gender neutral and call it a nursing room Sure. Or, um, that would be more inclusive if possible.

▶ 1:16:08 Speaker 5: Great point. Thank you. Mm-hmm.

▶ 1:16:11 Speaker 6: So, council Williams. Yeah. Thank you. Who knows? Loud.

▶ 1:16:17 Ryan Williams: Um, thank you all for the time that you're putting into this. This update is really crucially important for all of us, um, and it really de demonstrates a ton of great work, and we're all excited to see it move forward. Um, and you're likely to get a lot of like small design questions. 'cause this is our best opportunity to, to ask these questions. So I wanted to ask about the, um, left side of the overhead drawing where it shows the curb cut and what looks to me like, uh, like a parking area or a paved area in a darker shade of gray up the left side of that building. Is that where you imagine, is that where the parking is going for personnel?

▶ 1:16:58 Speaker 9: So, so the, the way the, the site is set up, uh, can you see my cursor? Yes. So there's, there's basically six spaces, uh, available on the site. There's, there's two here. Mm-hmm. There are two here. Mm-hmm. And there are two in the front here. I see This space that you see in the back, this, this paved area to the side. Yep. That's the potential for shift change parking, because since the site is still congested, there's, there's a chance to park some vehicles here while other firefighters leave, then move them out to the, uh, to the front.

▶ 1:17:34 Ryan Williams: Okay. Um, so I wanted to, I wanted to ask about the, the curb cut because in the original, in, in the existing condition, the curb cut actually extends further than the paved surface. There's this little spot of, of tree belt, it's maybe like eight feet, six to eight feet. So are, are you planning to maintain the existing curb cut? Are you planning to widen the curb cut? Um, Is there a potential to shorten the curb cut? Is there a flow path here where vehicles could sort of come down that channel and like, make sort of an s to turn out? The the reason that I'm, I'm bringing it up is because really excessively long curb cuts are always sort of a, an issue. And we know it's a fire station, so you have to have very long curb cuts. But if, if we can save six feet of curb cut, it's always, um, in my mind, it's always preferable.

▶ 1:18:25 Speaker 9: Right. I, I think you're asking, like we have on the right side here on,

▶ 1:18:28 Denise Gaffey: I think it's on Tremont Street you're

▶ 1:18:30 Ryan Williams: Talking about Yes. On Tremont Street, correct? Right, right. The Tremont, the Tremont Melrose Street. Yeah. Right.

▶ 1:18:35 Speaker 9: But like this, this parking here, which f is 90 degrees to the street Yes. Allows you to reduce the size of the curb cut. You're wondering if, if maybe we can do it on this side. Yes. And the difficulty there has to do with the length of the, of the, uh, parking space. Mm. It would actually extend out into the maintenance Bay drive

▶ 1:18:56 Ryan Williams: Area. You mean if you turn the parking perpendicular? Correct.

▶ 1:18:59 Speaker 9: Yeah. Correct. Right now it's going, it's going straight in. So, um, we, we could look that at that again. Maybe there's a chance to, to turn it onto the apron and then go back out from the apron as opposed. Right there.

▶ 1:19:11 Speaker 3: Yeah. Appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you. Happy to

▶ 1:19:17 Speaker 6: Council Williams. All set. I'm, I'm done. Thank you. Anyone else? Oh, I'm sorry. Council Vander, my mistake. Sorry about that.

▶ 1:19:23 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you so much. Um, as the others have said, this is, this is a wonderful presentation. I appreciate that you've, um, shared the link here where all of the updates are posted because I know there's a lot of, um, interest within the city. Um, I noticed you, uh, mentioned on the first floor, the public toilets. Uh, is that a new addition for this, uh, fire station?

▶ 1:19:48 Speaker 9: Uh, well, I'm sure people do come in to use the current toilets, ask the chief about that. But, uh, they're, they're not as accessible as, as these would be. Uh, if you, I got 'em up on the, the slides here. There's, there's two toilet rooms here, which are handicapped access. So you could come in through the main entrance and utilize that.

▶ 1:20:05 Kimberly Vandiver: Great. I, uh, I, I've heard, uh, other people say that, not this fire station, but the one that's by the common mm-hmm. That there's a restroom and, and it's talked about, you know, on the, the Facebook pages and everywhere else as a, you know, if you're out and about and you need a restroom, you can go there. So I think if this is new or if it was here and I didn't know about it, um, I think this is a important public amenity and I'm glad you have it here. Um, and, uh, yeah, that's my only comment. Thank you.

▶ 1:20:35 Speaker 6: Thank you. Council Nucaro.

▶ 1:20:37 Speaker 1: Thank you. Just wanna make a general statement.

▶ 1:20:40 Speaker 1: I, um, was really excited about this building. Um, I mean, all of the buildings that we're going to review,

▶ 1:20:46 Cal Finocchiaro: but, um, I'm, I'm assuming we didn't have a decontamination spot for these guys. Yes. Men and women. Um, so I think just that alone sounds pretty cool, um, and a necessity. So, um, and I just think it's long overdue, so I'm just excited to see these plants. So,

▶ 1:21:03 Speaker 9: So I'm, I'm glad you you mentioned that again, because again, looking at the cursor that you see the, the gross decontamination area here, which is where someone can get their gear off and get the, get it washed, and then there is a shower area where you could get cleaned up, and then once you're cleaned, you can go through the turnout gear room and then up the stair to above without going back into the apparatus area. That's

▶ 1:21:27 Speaker 1: Right. Thank you.

▶ 1:21:30 Speaker 6: Set. Uh, councilor Commissary,

▶ 1:21:31 Manjula Karamcheti: Thank you so much. Thank you all for being here. I will join my colleagues in terms of thanking everyone who's committed to this project and really, uh, championed it in so many different ways. Um, as the Ward one counselor, um, that this station falls into, um, I appreciate that, that you, uh, connected with the community, um, and listened to their questions and concerns. And you are already doing this. So this is sort of a just appreciation. And also please continue just information to continue to come that we can connect to the neighbors in that area, particularly as construction starts, just to know when things are happening and how, uh, constituents can plan ahead, plan accordingly. Um, there are some disabled children across the street in the neighborhood and just wanting to make sure that people know what's happening when it's happening, and so they can just take care of their people and their families.

▶ 1:22:35 Speaker 4: That's a big part of our role. We will have somebody on site on each of these projects. The, as soon as the contractor hits the ground, so the neighbors will have somebody to call and go to if, if there's a, if there's an issue. And we will, as Don alluded to earlier, we will also use the opportunities to communicate if there needs to be a close a lane or those sorts of things. Because at some point we will need to do something in the street. Right. But that's best mitigated problems are mitigated by letting you know, well in advance, stay away from this area for this day and that day. So we'll make sure, you know, we, we play a big role in that, you know, moving forward to make sure that the city and the residents know what's going on.

▶ 1:23:13 Manjula Karamcheti: Thank you. So appreciate that. And as the counselor in that ward, if I can be helpful in any way. Thank you. Definitely want to support. Great.

▶ 1:23:21 Mark Garipay: Anyone else for the first time? Counselor Jam.

▶ 1:23:24 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. I just wanna follow up to counselor. Um, m Sheri's comment, I do think that this is also would be good. I'm not sure if, uh, um, I'm sure you are already, um, it's the whole entire city would be actually impacted as well. Uh, mostly ward one, but every, all the wards, uh, go to the high school, middle school. And I am ward four, but my kids go to Roosevelt, so it would be extended more than Ward one. So if, if you're, if you are doing it, thank you so much. If not, would appreciate to extend it to more than, uh, world one. Sure. Thank you.

▶ 1:24:06 Speaker 4: I'm just gonna tell Denise that

▶ 1:24:09 Maya Jamaleddine: She can I have direct connection with Denise. I'll tell her

▶ 1:24:11 Denise Gaffey: And we will. Yeah. Certainly during construction, um, you know, we will have the, the website will be very active with information, um, that's pertinent to the construction and any disruptions and concerns that should be, you know, conveyed citywide. We'll certainly do that.

▶ 1:24:29 Maya Jamaleddine: I appreciate it. Thank you.

▶ 1:24:32 Mark Garipay: Anyone else? If I could just ask a couple, um, you said there's gonna be parking for six cars, or is where I'm assuming chief, we have more than six, six people in that building at once, where, uh, where's everyone else gonna park?

▶ 1:24:50 Speaker 9: The, um, the, the, the spaces that are on site will suffice for the staff who were there at any particular time. Um, so that's, that's why there are six spaces there. We do have that overflow opportunity down the side of the maintenance bay too, which isn't super convenient 'cause you could be blocked in, but you can put more cars there. Okay.

▶ 1:25:14 Mark Garipay: Um, and then if you go back to the picture that shows, uh, the front of the building with Melrose, Melrose Street, um,

▶ 1:25:23 Mark Garipay: Um, this One, no, uh, the one with the diagram, I think, uh, with the way we were looking at, with the curb cut, sorry.

▶ 1:25:30 Speaker 9: Oh, the cyp, sorry about that. Yep. That's okay. Yeah.

▶ 1:25:32 Mark Garipay: So down the bottom or it's the top of the screen for me, right. And I'm looking, going down Melrose Street, but, uh, is that a drive little driveway there? Like right now there's little right corner by the bridge, right? Right below the,

▶ 1:25:45 Speaker 6: With a Transformer top right corner.

▶ 1:25:46 Speaker 9: Oh, top right corner. It, it's actually a, uh, transformer. Okay. With access for the utility

▶ 1:25:52 Mark Garipay: Currently there's a driveway there, I think. Yes. Okay. Yep. Uh, and there's no room for parking down there at all for Added parking. There is not

▶ 1:25:58 Speaker 9: what, what you're seeing in the, in the upper part of the screen, this red line, that's the, the, the rear property line. And then there's MBTA land that is up above that.

▶ 1:26:08 Speaker 6: Okay. And then, um, maintenance bank,

▶ 1:26:13 Mark Garipay: is that for the trucks to get fixed on? Um, 'cause I'm, I don't know that we fixed the trucks in house, so I'm just curious. I'm not questioning it shouldn't be there, but I mean, do we, oh, do we call a vendor to come in and fix? Is that the idea for, for the maintenance bank right now, I'm assuming we're outsourcing everything to a dealership or, um, curious why we need that extra bay, excuse me. Or if it can be a little smaller where we can, sorry. Where we can add parking or

▶ 1:26:47 Speaker 2: One of the, our biggest problem it will be to, to fix and maintain our apparatus. Um, as we all know, the, the cost of apparatus is skyrocketing. And so the longer we can maintain them, um, and keep them on the road, the more money we can get out of our investment in them. And so, currently all our maintenance and everything is outsourced. So we have to go up to Fleet Masters in Lawrence and they sit there in the lot until the mechanics get a chance to work on 'em. So we're hoping to streamline a lot of this process by, we do have, right now, one of the firefighters is, we call him our, our mechanic, but he kind of just kind of facilitates the coming and going of the apparatus. Keeps him on the schedule of maintenance and sending them out to the various, um, mechanics or shops that work on them. Um, and so we're hoping to get a lot of use out of this bay so we can maintain them in-house and have a, a shorter downtime. Um, that's our hope with this bay. When I started, um, back in the eighties, there was an in-house mechanic, but, um, I think he was a, right after prop, two and a half, he was only the first people to go. He retired and that was it. And so we've been, you know, at the mercy of whatever mechanics we can find, um, to service our apparatus and whatever they charge. And however, whenever they can get around to fixing them, we just have to maintain spear pieces and use them while the main ones are out. And then also maintain the spear ones. So we're hoping to get a lot more bang for our buck and our investment in trucks. Um, 'cause they're now approaching a million dollars, even for the smallest ones.

▶ 1:28:28 Mark Garipay: So we're gonna see an initial cost in the budget of, uh, of probably a mechanic and parts. And

▶ 1:28:36 Speaker 2: You, you will, you will see that. But we're going to, um, our plan is gonna offset the cost for just the repair bills that we have. Um, we recently just had some ms spare out, um, unbeknownst to us to have the whole, uh, rear chassis of the latter two rebuilt. Um, and a cost of $25,000. Um, I was here before the board asking for that money. Um, they're unforeseen to us, but we're hoping to be able to keep our eye on these trucks a lot better with our in-house mechanic. Um, recently I talked with the, um, the chief in Malden. They're kind of in the same boat as we are. Can't quite afford a full-time mechanic, but, and actually they have more apparatus than we do, and we figured line maybe at some point in the future, maybe going in with them, having a cooperative mechanic to take care of both pieces, both cities pieces. But that's down the road. But that's the plan for this bay to save us a lot of downtime with our trucks going back and forth to the various shops.

▶ 1:29:38 Speaker 6: Okay. Um,

▶ 1:29:40 Mark Garipay: currently right now, so what do we got two? Is there gonna be three bays in the, or two bays in the middle?

▶ 1:29:46 Speaker 9: Three bays. Three bays?

▶ 1:29:47 Mark Garipay: Those are three, I should know this. We have two or three there now. We have

▶ 1:29:50 Speaker 2: The bubble. There's two bays there now, two bay. So we're

▶ 1:29:53 Speaker 6: Adding a bay and then we're adding a maintenance bay. Right. Okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Thank you.

▶ 1:30:00 Mark Garipay: Any other questions regarding the fire

▶ 1:30:06 Speaker 6: station on to the police? Okay, was yours?

▶ 1:30:12 Speaker 9: Excellent. So, um, just like the, uh, working with the fire department, we went through the same process with the, uh, with the police department, uh, starting with the questionnaires, uh, developing an initial program, going back and forth with the chief and the police department, uh, working hard to get it to, uh, a, a size and program that meets their needs. Uh, no surprise to anyone. That existing facility is way too small. It was not built as a police station. Uh, actually there are many safety concerns in that existing building. Um, but like with the fire department, we worked hard to, um, bring the program down as, as much as we can while not, uh, creating any issues with the, uh, program needs. And we were able to save 13% space, which ultimately saved some money too on the, uh, on the project. So that was, has been a good process with them. Um, we had numerous meetings, um, like we've had with the fire department in this case. Uh, you know, with the neighborhood bringing a new program into, uh, essentially the BB neighborhood. Um, there was, uh, as you would expect some concerns from the, uh, the constituents out there. So we spent some, some time with them, um, working on primarily the, not the building size so much, but the building appearance and how it sits on the site. Um, and then we've had the regular weekly meetings, monthly meetings, uh, with, uh, working group and advisory committee. And all the updates are on the, uh, the website here too. In terms of the, uh, the site plan, the, um, what we have here, whoops,

▶ 1:31:57 Speaker 9: Uh, this is the, This is the, uh, proposed station with an overlay of the existing BB school you see with the, uh, the dash lines. And what's important about this particular slide is we're actually, uh, it's a smaller footprint than the, uh, the, the existing BB uh, building. It's not any closer to West Foster Street, uh, than the existing BB school is. And, um, the way the, the site lays out, if you, if you look to the, to the, to the left, my left, your left too, I guess, uh, is the west, that's where the secure parking is for, um, uh, staff personnel

▶ 1:32:35 Speaker 9: and, um, uh, police vehicles. Uh, that's all fenced in. It's secure. On the right side of the, or the east side is the public entrance. Public parking. Um, you can see the, uh, the public entry is located right here. There's actually a connection back through to the Milano Center. So there's the opportunity for some, perhaps some overflow parking from Milano. We're, we're gonna, um, share some of the, uh, the trash duties between, uh, the two facilities. So that's, uh, that's actually a nice added benefit. There's, there's actually 20% more green space on this site than existing for the existing school. So a lot of that is creating buffer between the building and the, the parking and the drive aisles from the neighborhood. So around the neighborhood, there's this big series of, uh, vegetation and fencing to create, uh, create screening to keep, uh, noise down. Uh, and same thing at the, the street, you can see trees planted down along the street. So, um, it helps to soften the, the new building along, uh, west Foster Street. So working hard to be, be a good neighbor, uh, out here and which is primarily a residential, uh, area.

▶ 1:33:52 Speaker 9: And then on the, uh, the first floor, I won't go into as much detail here as I did with the fire, 'cause there's, there are a lot of spaces, uh, there's a lot of smaller spaces in here. But, uh, with the, the main entry down here in the lower right hand corner, uh, similar lobby, you could have some memorabilia in this lobby, but more important, uh, when you walk in the door, there's, uh, greeter, uh, space and dispatch space. Uh, there's records clerk training room again, uh, public toilets and interview room and permits can all take place off of this, uh, this public library, uh, with an elevator and stair going up to the second floor. Uh, the other spaces that are primarily down here have to do with, uh, with the patrol officers with, uh, roll call, break room, uh, male and female locker rooms. The, uh, whole back portion of the building that's really dedicated to, uh, bringing detainees in, processing them, and then holding them, uh, for a period of time. And all that takes place, uh, within that secure parking area. So everything's fenced in, in the back when, uh, someone was brought into, uh, through the station, uh, where the curs cursor, now that's a Sally port, so that's where detain be brought in and brought in for processing. And then you see vehicle processing if, uh, uh, something needs to be brought in, uh, from a crime scene. It's in a secure area out of the weather where it can be, uh, can be addressed. And then up on the second floor, uh, again, this is the upper level, uh, of the lobby, uh, elevator here, stair here. There is a, a, a conference room, uh, up on the second level, uh, detectives and social services over here, uh, administration, uh, support space, and a fitness room all up on the second level. So a lot of ladder program up on that second level. And then the build the building imagery is, uh, is really important. And again, we spent, uh, quite a bit of time talking with the, the neighbors and the abutters, uh, in particular. And, um, being a new program here, uh, as you can imagine, um, you could be very sensitive to what was a school temporary library, not becoming a police station. So we worked hard to create a building that we think is gonna fit within that residential, uh, district. It's a two story building. Uh, we did add pitch roofs to it to try to, uh, uh, soften the, the edge of the building. And the way it's set up is that, um, mechanical equipment on top is gonna be within a bathtub, basically on top of the roof. So it helps to screen it and create some, uh, noise attenuation.

▶ 1:36:42 Mark Garipay: If you could put the mic a little bit Yep. Closer to you.

▶ 1:36:45 Speaker 9: Sorry. Thank you. Sorry. Better. Yes. Um, and then again, this, this is, this is brick, it's cast stone, uh, punched opens openings, which are, uh, residential in style. Um, and you can see all of the, the screening that's happening with the vegetation. Uh, here's a view, uh, looking towards the, the west, you can see the main entrance and, uh, west Foster Street, and then taken from the other direction, the secure parking is here on the left. You get a good sense of the, the vegetation and, uh, the fenced in area, uh, looking back down, uh, west Foster. And then finally a view from directly across the street. So we think overall this is gonna be a very good neighbor, um, from, uh, an aesthetic perspective and it fit quite well within the, uh, within the neighborhood. And I'll pause here if you want to ask questions

▶ 1:37:41 Mark Garipay: At that. Councilor. Jamal, council Ro Williams. Council Vander,

▶ 1:37:46 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, I'm, I'm not gonna repeat myself about how impressed I am with that, uh, work. So thank you again. Um, I've noticed it's really hard to read all those, uh, different rooms. And I have, uh, it's out of curiosity and not out of, um, uh, you know, probably you guys and, and the chief have more input on what are the needs, uh, uh, for the police department. So I respect that. But out of curiosity, I, I read, I found I counted four male cells and two female cells. Um, can you share how, why this, this proportion in terms of why we chose four for male and two for female, and if we have any gender neutral, also cells,

▶ 1:38:40 Speaker 5: It, yeah. And,

▶ 1:38:41 Speaker 9: and the chief can certainly address this in more detail, but it, it, it's based upon, uh, yes. Call history, right? And, uh, the, the activity within the city. But,

▶ 1:38:53 Speaker 5: Uh, thank you Chief. Yep,

▶ 1:38:55 Speaker 7: Absolutely. Jump ahead. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I can address that. It's a little bit of semantics there. So they're all, they're all the same, they're all designed the same. Um, historically we get more male arrests than female arrests. Uh, however, having said that, you could put a male in the female section, a female in the male section, and a, a male in the juvenile section as long as their sight and sound separate from each other. Mm-hmm. That's the legal, uh, requirements. So, uh, hypothetically if we had, uh, two males come in under arrest, we'd probably put them in the same block in the, which denoted for the four males. If we had a male and a female come in at the same time, we would put one on the male, one on the female. And the key is, again, they have to be sight and sound separate. Um, but it's, it's a little bit of semantics. Um, we would probably choose the closest and easiest one if a male came in or a female came in. Uh, and then depending on the use of them, you know, then we'd probably get used to saying, Hey, let's always put the males over here and let's put the females over here. Okay. But they were all set up the same exact design wise. Yeah.

▶ 1:39:57 Maya Jamaleddine: That, that's very, very, um, um, good information. And what about the, you know, gender neutral? Uh, how, uh, is that approach or handled?

▶ 1:40:09 Speaker 7: So historically what that is, is it's whatever the prisoner identifies themself as is where we will put them, um, uh, in, um, I don't know if that's what you are asking. No,

▶ 1:40:21 Maya Jamaleddine: Actually, what if they don't, uh, identify themselves, whether female or male, let's say they, and, and that's, you

▶ 1:40:28 Speaker 7: Know, sure. We would put, you know, in, in the, generally we wouldn't have hopefully, um, three or four arrests at once where we'd have to put two people in the same cell block. So if that person came in and, um, for example, refused to identify themselves, or we would just put them in any of the cell blocks, it wouldn't really matter at that point because they're alone speak,

▶ 1:40:51 Maya Jamaleddine: But they would be held separately, right? Yes. Yes. Okay. Correct. That's, that's good information. Yes. Thank you. And I also, um, with the toilets is is the same thing. We have just, um, all genders or gender neutral at the same time. Is that an option or, we have it,

▶ 1:41:09 Speaker 7: They're all the same. They're all

▶ 1:41:11 Speaker 5: Designers. They're all the same. Correct. Okay.

▶ 1:41:14 Maya Jamaleddine: So we have stalls that are for all genders. Correct. Awesome. Um, you mentioned something about fenced in separately, they're all sent fenced in, in the back. Um, can you tell me more about, is that one of you?

▶ 1:41:30 Speaker 5: I'm not sure.

▶ 1:41:32 Speaker 9: So basically if you follow my cursor from, from this line all the way around, this back portion of the parking mm-hmm. Is considered secure parking for, for police, uh, vehicles and for police personnel vehicles. So this is all secure back here and it's also, this is the sally port or a detainee would be brought in. It's also, this is secure from the public side also. So it, it, it just is good practice to keep this part of the site separate, obviously from the, from the public, uh, side. Mm-hmm. And to, uh, basically keep vehicles secured.

▶ 1:42:17 Maya Jamaleddine: Right. Okay. Um, and is it, when you said fence, it's like, actually there is fence separating

▶ 1:42:27 Speaker 9: There, there, there is, there is a fence, but at the same time, there will be plantings, so there wouldn't be a fence. You'll be able to see the fence, but there's plantings in, in front of the fence, so it's, it's buffered from you. So, and it, it'll be, it ornamental, but it'll be a nice looking fence, not just a chain length fence.

▶ 1:42:47 Maya Jamaleddine: It's not chain, uh, fence. That's right. Okay. Okay. And, um, is there any like, dimension for that fence? How big

▶ 1:42:55 Speaker 9: The height of it, six feet? Yeah. We're at six feet.

▶ 1:42:58 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. Awesome. And, um, and I know that this is a great, uh, progress and is my time up, I, that was mine or not? Uh, I know that's a big, uh, improvement in terms of the accessibility, uh, uh, right now, uh, you know, any visitors, they have to buzz in from the outside to be let in your, um, uh, building, uh, how is it going to be now? What is the process?

▶ 1:43:32 Speaker 7: Uh, a little bit similar. So the, um, on the first floor, there'll be, uh, a vestibule when you come in through the front door, and that will be unlocked. And then there will be, um, a vestibule with a window, uh, accessible, you know, visually and also with an intercom system for the dispatchers and the greeters that'll be working behind that. So everything should be, um, sort of accomplished at that vestibule, whether the officer walks up to the front window and speaks to the person or through the intercom. And then if they have to get into the sort of inner part of the building, then we would buzz them. And, but we, the goal is hopefully the, the vestibule is large enough and welcoming enough that most public business can be, uh, had right there at the window.

▶ 1:44:15 Maya Jamaleddine: Got It. And, and just, uh, uh, in a sarcastic way, are you guys going to miss all those holes in connecting floors and stuff? How are you gonna do this? I know you're, you guys have been building that relation with it for a while now, so I'm, I'm, I'm just saying this to, to on a, on a good note to say I'm very happy and excited that you guys are getting finally the building that you are, you all deserve, uh, in return to the amazing work that you're doing for the community. So thank you so much for that service and um, I am excited that you guys are getting

▶ 1:44:57 Speaker 7: Back. Thank you. We, we appreciate it. And we're, we're, yeah, it's gonna be immeasurable when we eventually move in the impact it's going to have. So thank you.

▶ 1:45:05 Speaker 5: Yes, thank you. Thank you all.

▶ 1:45:09 Speaker 6: All set? Yes. Counsel ro

▶ 1:45:11 Cal Finocchiaro: Yes. Thank you. Um, again, just a general statement from all general statements tonight. Um, I just wanted to make a point to commend you all on the aesthetics of the building that pitched roof I think is really important for that area. I know you got a lot of feedback from the residents there. Um, I think it's like a beautiful building. I think it looks like it's something that we've had in the city, um, for a while.

▶ 1:45:36 Speaker 1: So I think it's, um, and I love the way that there is it,

▶ 1:45:38 Cal Finocchiaro: because there's parking sort of all around it is set back from the residence, um, behind. And the other building was closer to their, I guess, plot lines, but I think they're above anyways on that's right. South High Street or something like that. Um, but anyways, I do that pitched roof makes a huge difference than like a, a rubber flat roof. Um, and I know that was something that you took that feedback from the residents. Um, so hopefully they're happy about that. And I love all the green, green space, the trees. Um, and I do have a question about the fence, actually. Uh, I know cons al touched on it. Um, will it be like a black rod iron fence? Is that what you're thinking? The, um, the black fence next.

▶ 1:46:21 Speaker 9: Okay. So I think the, the image that you see here is giving you a sense of what it might look like. Yeah. With the, with the vertical, um,

▶ 1:46:28 Speaker 1: Steel, I think that'll will great.

▶ 1:46:30 Cal Finocchiaro: Yeah. Yeah. Um, so great. And I, again, I'm very excited for the whole fleece force. I think they deserve, it's well overdue to have a space like this. It looks like you have a lot of extra space inside. Um, and it's gonna be great.

▶ 1:46:44 Speaker 1: So thank you. Thank you very much.

▶ 1:46:47 Speaker 6: Thank you. All Set. Council Williams. Thank you.

▶ 1:46:49 Ryan Williams: You're welcome. Um, the fencing, is it motorized and opens both at the entry point to West Foster Street on the left side of the building as well as the entry point to the Sally Port? Yes. Okay. Um, and is there, uh, is there a desire for circulation in this type of arrangement to where you wouldn't want to have just one point of entry in egress, you'd want to have two,

▶ 1:47:16 Speaker 2: Right? Sorry, get Back there. Yep.

▶ 1:47:17 Speaker 9: The, the, the, the way it set up is there is immediate access off of West Foster mm-hmm. And access off the, the back part of the site. So there are two ways in and out on the site. Uh,

▶ 1:47:32 Ryan Williams: And so currently where that first, when that, where that first, uh, curb cut is, that's a playground right now. So you're gonna add a new point of travel for vehicles to cross the sidewalk there on Foster Street.

▶ 1:47:46 Ryan Williams: Okay. Um, yeah. Is it, is it envisioned that the police operations, would you have the vehicle staged in that? I'm gonna, I'm just gonna refer to directions left and right on the right side. Lot for quick departure, or would you have them all sort of on the left side lot and you have to wait for the gate to open up and then drive out? Or where would they

▶ 1:48:08 Speaker 7: The envision is everything on the left side, um, marked and unmarked, uh, personal vehicles of the offices and then also all, all of our vehicles. So why wouldn't prefer and want the, uh, I see offices parking their cruises on the right side.

▶ 1:48:20 Ryan Williams: Got it. I see. Okay. Alright. Um, and that street you guys probably saw has kind of a weird configuration where the, um, you're showing it on the drawings as a straight line, but it actually has like a weird cut in on the sidewalk, which is on the city side. And I don't know how much, if any of the sidewalk portion of this concerns your folks.

▶ 1:48:41 Speaker 3: If it's all of it, I would love to see

▶ 1:48:43 Ryan Williams: that brought out in line because that street, I'm, I'm sure you guys have been on it. I live sort of in the area and I drive it every day. It is, it is like a completely weird, you sort of, you come around and there's parking here and people are coming at you and then it kind of jogs this way and it kind of jogs that way. And, um, I don't think that it needs to be, um, you know, we, we don't need to do a ton of traffic calming work. We can, the city can handle that, but if you are gonna be doing something that, I think it was meant to be like a, um, like a pull in spot for kids to drop off, but it's not a full vehicle Right. Width. So no one uses it and it would be better served to the city as a, as a full sidewalk to extend the sidewalk.

▶ 1:49:22 Speaker 9: That's the answer. Good.

▶ 1:49:24 Ryan Williams: Okay. Very good. Um, yeah, and the, and the drawings, uh, they show sort of this like weird, you know, zero point entry into the parking lot, but I assume we're gonna maintain the cement, apron, sidewalks that we have everywhere in the city. Yeah, she's, she's, she's got it. She's got it. Good. Wonderful. And um, the last thing about the frontage is the, the suggestion to add any sort of decorative screening, additional to the trees, low shrubs, et cetera, because that parking lot space is gonna visually present a lot of asphalt where people walk by. It's a very popular part of the city with lots of events and stuff. And just to have some screening, a low fence or greenery to sort of break up the visual of that big asphalt parking lot right. As people walk by. I think we'd go a long way towards making the building sort of nestled in like a parcel, like a home.

▶ 1:50:19 Speaker 9: And, and that is, that is the goal. So even since these images were created, we've continued to work with our landscape architect to add more, uh, low, low shrubs also.

▶ 1:50:29 Ryan Williams: Fantastic. Okay. Um, how much additional cost did the design revisions, just ballpark, do you know from the first program to the second program, was there an increase in cost and however you wanna characterize that?

▶ 1:50:44 Speaker 9: When you say first program to second program, you're talking about building size, building imagery?

▶ 1:50:50 Ryan Williams: Yeah, building imagery. Right. So we had a, we had several meetings where we were looking at the kind of original proposed structure, the square. Um, and then it was like, we have options and the options will cost more. This option will cost $700,000 more. Did this cost $700,000 more?

▶ 1:51:10 Speaker 9: I think that's a good Segue to the next slide.

▶ 1:51:11 Speaker 2: That's the next slide. Okay. Two slides,

▶ 1:51:14 Speaker 9: Which, which would you, well, yes, it was approximately $700,000.

▶ 1:51:18 Speaker 3: Alright. That's it for me. Thank you.

▶ 1:51:21 Speaker 6: Okay. I have, um, counselor Viver.

▶ 1:51:25 Kimberly Vandiver: Oh, thank you. A few questions. Uh, first, uh, on the site plan, uh, at that intersection just next to this location, west Foster Street, Benton, Florence, I noticed on the, um, on the site plan, there are a few, um, crosswalks that exist currently that aren't, aren't represented there. And I, I know there's also been discussion at Traffic Commission about this confusing kind of non square intersection and whether this project in the course of, of that work might address it. Is that something you could speak to?

▶ 1:52:00 Denise Gaffey: Yes, I can speak to that. So we do have a, a traffic consultant as part of this project. And, um, they are looking at ways of improving the geometry on the street right now, which is as, as, um, councilor Williams pointed out, kind of haphazard. Um, and, um, looking at, um, eliminating some of the, um, the on street parking right now in front of the building, which is not gonna be needed when we have the parking on site. Um, and we've also asked them, they, they're aware of the fact that the, um, that the intersection there at Vinton and Foster and, and, um, maple, I think it is, is a challenging intersection that's been brought up by the neighborhood. And they've also also taken a look at that, even though that's work that would happen outside of the scope of this project, they have put together some, some ideas and some, um, recommendations. So, so all of that, anything that would involve any changes to the, um, to either traffic, um, regulations, um, or the infrastructure there would get reviewed by the, the traffic commission. So we actually have that, um, already kind of queued up for a meeting in September. We are, um, planning to bring the traffic, um, consultant to the committee's next meeting and then also meet with the neighbors too to just review everything that they've, all of their findings. And then the next step would be to go to the traffic commission.

▶ 1:53:25 Speaker 10: Great. Thank you. Um, if you, uh, this may be part of

▶ 1:53:28 Kimberly Vandiver: that process, but if some on Streete parking is removed, would that then turn into, um, a wider street or a narrower street with additional green space or,

▶ 1:53:36 Denise Gaffey: So I think we're trying to narrow the street up to make it a little bit safer to reduce the speeding that's happening. And also, I forgot that your question was about crosswalks, so yeah, crosswalks are, are part of that, um, a part of that plan too, like

▶ 1:53:48 Kimberly Vandiver: Considering where they should be? Exactly. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes.

▶ 1:53:51 Speaker 9: Yeah, this, this particular drawing, we weren't trying to pick up all the crosswalks. Got

▶ 1:53:55 Speaker 10: It. Great. Um, and, um,

▶ 1:54:02 Kimberly Vandiver: if there were, I'm, I'm sure you've thought about this, um, and I'm just curious what the answer is. If, you know, if somebody's in that crosswalk, there're, you know, kids using this area, there's a park, there's elderly people and the police need to leave quickly or from that location, what, what are the considerations around safety? If somebody's actively crossing the street or, and,

▶ 1:54:22 Speaker 10: and, you know, in that situation,

▶ 1:54:26 Speaker 9: Uh, we hope they stop.

▶ 1:54:28 Denise Gaffey: So I don't think we're gonna have a crosswalk that's close to that, um, to the, to the parking for the up.

▶ 1:54:37 Speaker 9: Okay. What was, what is interesting with police versus fire is fire is always egressing for an emergency from a, from a station where police are typically on patrol. Okay. Right. So you don't get a lot of, uh, quick departures from the station itself.

▶ 1:54:51 Speaker 10: That that's makes sense. Thank you. Okay. And then, um, I wanted to check

▶ 1:54:57 Kimberly Vandiver: as well about the public restrooms. Um, and whether that's something that would be, um, I know there's the vestibule there and you'd have to talk to the greeter, but is that something that the anticipated use is that the public would use those if really needed or frequently or, or what's kind of the, the thought there on the first floor?

▶ 1:55:15 Speaker 9: Right. The, the, the, the public toilets are, toilets are labeled to the public. So if someone wants to come in, it's right off the public library after you check in with the vestibule. Okay.

▶ 1:55:27 Kimberly Vandiver: Great. And then my last question, um, on the, the slide after that, it meant shows on the second floor plan, an area that's open to below. And I thought that was kind of interesting and surprising and I was wondering if you could speak to that decision.

▶ 1:55:41 Speaker 9: It, it's just, it's a, it's a nice feature within what is a pretty good size lobby. So it gives you a chance when you walk in to, to have a view up. Mm-hmm. And you can bring some natural light down from above too. And if you're up in the upper space looking down, it's kind of nice. So it's a little, a little design feature doesn't add any money actually probably saves a little money 'cause your is less floor air is free.

▶ 1:56:07 Speaker 10: Right. That's all. Thank you.

▶ 1:56:10 Speaker 6: Thank you. All's up council. Uh, Romanul.

▶ 1:56:14 Devin Romanul: Thank you Mr. Chair. Um, I want to repeat my colleagues and say I appreciate all the time and effort and I energy that has gone into this, uh, particularly working with the, with the community. And I, um, I had a number of my colleagues answered some questions. So my, my one remaining was about the HVAC system. I know that was an open question when we first started these conversations and I was wondering if you could, uh, update us on what that decision was and, and what your considerations were.

▶ 1:56:39 Speaker 9: So, um, we had considered, uh, geothermal on this particular site. Uh, went out and did some exploratory work. Basically drove a well, uh, did a, a large case boring into the ground and, um, you would think in Melrose with all the ledger would be a good, uh, candidate for geothermal. And what happened is, uh, a lot of water was encountered, which is counterintuitive to thinking geothermal, you're gonna be, no, you don't want that kind of water. And it actually, um, hurts the conductivity of geothermal wells. And because of that, um, would not have been able to go as deep as you normally would like to. 650 to seven 50 feet deep. I believe there would've about 404 and would've had so many on the site that the site couldn't hold all those wells. So the only thing you could have done is do a hybrid situation between ground source and the air air source system, which is, is less effective, uh, creates issues with maintenance. 'cause now you're basically operating two systems. So it becomes, uh, a regular operating, uh, issue for the city. So we ended up going with an, an all air, uh, uh, source system in this particular building.

▶ 1:58:02 Speaker 2: Alright. Thank you for the update. I appreciate it. Sure.

▶ 1:58:05 Mark Garipay: Set. Um, anyone else for the first time?

▶ 1:58:10 Mark Garipay: Uh, for the second time? Council Aldi,

▶ 1:58:12 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, and I'm sorry I'm, it that just questions are keep coming to my mind. Um, how is the, can you talk to us about the security system, how the cameras and like what system do you have in terms of cameras for outside?

▶ 1:58:30 Speaker 9: Uh, I'm sorry, for security. Yeah. Yes. I mean, they'll be strategically placed, uh, around the building to be able to observe what's, what's happening Cummins and goings and, and whatnot. So, um,

▶ 1:58:41 Maya Jamaleddine: On all directions. Yes. Okay. And, um, do, do you have a number of how, how many cameras will be installed,

▶ 1:58:52 Speaker 9: But it's fully Covered the whole perimeters?

▶ 1:58:53 Speaker 5: Right. We don't have full cameras.

▶ 1:58:54 Speaker 9: So what we do is we, we work to eliminate any blind spots out there.

▶ 1:59:00 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. So there will be no blind spots.

▶ 1:59:03 Speaker 9: That's the plan. Yes.

▶ 1:59:04 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. Um, are we planning to have a solar panel? And I'm sorry if this has been touched on.

▶ 1:59:11 Speaker 9: So this, this building will be solar ready. Uh, so solar panels could be added. Uh, they may be added as part of the project, but it's not currently. Uh Right. I think fully budgeted.

▶ 1:59:23 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Okay.

▶ 1:59:24 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, and do we have an electric, uh, charging, uh, place for the cars that we currently have?

▶ 1:59:35 Denise Gaffey: Yes, we, we will on both, both of the public lot and in the, um, the, the police department's lot.

▶ 1:59:42 Maya Jamaleddine: Right. Awesome. And uh, just taking into consideration, you know, some of the concerns that neighbors, and I'm sure you guys have had the conversation with them about neighbors, you know, concern about, um, the, um, uh, the location in, in, uh, in terms of how close they are, they live to that, uh, the police station, uh, the new, uh, building. Um, how, um, has it been the communication and I see that it's been three, uh, different meetings with the neighbors. Um, any improvement in terms of their feedback or any kind of changes in terms of their feedback and concerns that they shared? It,

▶ 2:00:27 Speaker 9: It, it actually has informed a lot of the vegetation that you see around the site in the, in the fencing that, uh, that we're looking at. We're also in the back. There's some, uh, maybe non, uh, native trees that we're looking at perhaps, uh, replacing back there. So, uh, that's been an ongoing discussion.

▶ 2:00:45 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. Anything that hasn't been addressed? Any concern that they shared and it hasn't been addressed yet or find a solution for it?

▶ 2:00:56 Denise Gaffey: I don't think so. I just also wanted to mention, um, we have gotten good feedback when we, when we were able to, you know, send the modified plans back to the, the group of, of, um, neighbors. We got really good feedback on the design changes, which was great. Um, we also, as, as I think you may know, the mayor appointed, um, a direct abutter. She actually is the most direct abutter, um, to the project to serve on the advisory committee. And, um, she does an excellent job of, um, of keeping all of the neighbors, um, up to date on all the, you know, the progress of the project. But, um, we do have other, we have plans to, um, we've met on site a couple of times to talk about trees, tree removal, the fence things, things that of things of concern to the direct, especially to the direct abutters. And, um, we have, um, plans to reach out, back out to them once the landscape, um, plan and the traffic plan is, is finalized so we can get their feet or not finalized, but more for developed. So we can get their feedback

▶ 2:02:00 Maya Jamaleddine: On that. That's perfect. And, and just some, as you mentioned, that, uh, you know, all those streets that are and that are around, uh, this specific location, is there with a traffic commission, is there going to be any changes in a plan in terms of two-way streets or one way street because of the location of the, uh, police department or No?

▶ 2:02:21 Denise Gaffey: No, there's no need for that. There's no need to make any changes to the traffic patterns.

▶ 2:02:25 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. And, uh, and when the construction is going to start any impact on, um, you know, uh, the people that are going to be, uh, using those streets, going to schools, going to different places of the city,

▶ 2:02:42 Speaker 9: Right. Really the same as the fire station, right? Same. So pedestrian and public, uh, vehicle access will be maintained, could be interrupted, uh, for utility tie-ins, but that would be the, uh, the brunt of it with proper notification, uh, to the city. Perfect.

▶ 2:02:58 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

▶ 2:03:01 Speaker 6: Council Williams. Thanks.

▶ 2:03:02 Ryan Williams: Uh, question I had about the geothermal was already answered, but did you, do you receive a technical analysis? Yes. Would you mind sharing it with the, with folks? I work with a group of folks who, who do different types of geothermal work and I would just be interested not to rebut it in any way, but just interested to see what the findings were, because drilling a well is always an opportunity to learn more about Sure. The local,

▶ 2:03:25 Denise Gaffey: So it is posted on that report is posted on the, oh, um, project website.

▶ 2:03:30 Ryan Williams: Great, thanks. Um, and then I am really happy to hear that you're bringing the traffic design group, the engineering group in to meet with us. Um, and that'll be a really good opportunity to talk more about that. It's a point of clarification. The traffic commission does not approve traffic combing designs, right? So it'll just approve the regulatory changes, re changes, changes, changes, changes, stop signs and parking and whatever. We don't usually get to see the designs before they're in final form. So it's a really excellent opportunity to have public input and I'm really glad to hear that we're doing it and I personally look forward to seeing it and talking about it. So thank you very much. That's it for me. Thank you.

▶ 2:04:09 Speaker 6: Um, that's all the questions I have, uh, so I'll pass it back to you.

▶ 2:04:13 Speaker 9: Terrific. Thank you. Thank you. So close to the end, just, uh, let's see what we got here.

▶ 2:04:25 Speaker 9: Uh, yes. So these are the first two projects of a four project, uh, master plan for public safety. So we have started, um, uh, gearing back up for engine three and headquarters on the fire side. Uh, we've been updating the, um, programs working with the fire department still early on, so we haven't, uh, come to full conclusion on that yet. Um, starting to look a little bit at the, at the design, but very, uh, preliminary. We are keeping a close eye on central fire in the floor slab, uh, as it relates structurally as it relates to supporting apparatus. So there's a structural engineer who's engaged, who's been, uh, looking at that. And then we, uh, plan on starting do to do the, uh, site survey work and some initial geotechnical work on both central fire and the, uh, engine three sites. So that's, that's where we are with those, uh, those projects right now.

▶ 2:05:26 Speaker 6: Great. Anyone have any questions on engine three and headquarters?

▶ 2:05:34 Speaker 6: No. What, you've all been waiting? Not much. Not not much to question Yeah. At this point, right?

▶ 2:05:38 Speaker 4: What you've all been waiting for, um, slide to make you go a little bit blind, so apologies on this. So, um, so obviously when we came on board, Jordan Whittier had been working for a while, right? There had already been the vote. Alright, so what our first task really was to do was to take those numbers, which Frankie Dorn, Wooder did a a very good job of that. We're at a really a 30,000 foot level and to try to break them out into all the different pieces. And what I've tried to show you on this is really just the major subset of pieces. This, our complete total project budget for any one of these four projects will be about 30 lines. Instead of, we're really showing you six or seven right now as we move from left to right, it's what's most known towards what's not known as as much right now. So what we tried to do is to show you where the projects were, show you the sub, uh, project total excluding contingencies, add those contingencies and then say, Hey, how do those numbers compare to the debt exclusion votes that were taken in 2023? And then to basically show you, alright, where do we stand? If you were to look at that, you know, 1 29 0.7 number, that was the total vote. Where are we running right now? So I'm gonna start with the end right now to just say we're doing really well. Um, right now we are over $7 million under for that right now. Right now the city is about to bid a project in what has really be been a surprise as far as bidding climate goes. We've seen some really great numbers out there. We've seen a lot of interest. There's no doubt that that kind of ties to some, um, unknowns and insecurity in like the private market. So suddenly we have names of folks who want to bid projects who we haven't seen in a really long time. That's great for Melrose. Okay? That just means more competition. More competition means better numbers. Um, you can see as we look at this that, you know, and the other thing I'll tell you the construction numbers. If you look at the construction numbers, those numbers, basically what will happen is, um, you know, post schematic, we, um, and at every design phase, design development and then again in construction documents, Don's team does a construction estimate. We do a construction estimate and then our estimators talk to each other and reconcile what will end up happening along the way is first and foremost understand that those four numbers are meant to be not the bid day number. Those numbers are meant to be, if seven people bid your job, that number is gonna be around the middle of the pack. Third place, fourth place, fifth place bidder here. Our goal is to always be conservative, conservative enough so that we can give you good news on bid day, right? We don't want to track to what the lowest and best number is. There's a blip in the prices of something, then suddenly we're over. And it was important for us to drive kind of that bottom line, uh, row that drives to the $7.3 million under. We didn't want to keep the money in the job. So what we said is, look, we're gonna carry between five and 10% per job. 5% for the newer builds, 10% more for the renovation addition to central. And then anything else we're gonna put down in that, um, difference category just to show you that we're cognizant of, we're not here to try to spend or, you know, commit 129.7. Let's show you where we are. The only other caveat I would say to this is, we're trending really well right now. None of us on your team can tell you what it's going to look like next year or when we bid these other two, heck, we could, we could be throwing a curve ball in the next three months with a tariff that throws the police number off, right? But as of right now, we're very comfortable with where we are in the market. So again, those numbers are, the categories that are broken out are project management, the architects, basic services. Those are the things that Dorn, Whittier self performs. And then there are the specialty services. Those are the things that they go outside of house for administration. That covers things like insurance, um, third party testing, commissioning, utility, back charges, all of those kind of those others. Construction very straightforward. That's what the, what we're tracking the, um, general contractor that's going to bid the job. That would be their number. Furniture, fixtures and equipment, um, FFF and e that also includes communications. And if you look at that row, wait a minute, the police numbers hire by a lot. It's not just that they have radios. It's that we have to upgrade the infrastructure and it, it, it's looking like it we're, we're trying hard for it not to be a tower. Um, we think there are some very good microwave solutions. We're working through that right now. Um, if, but we were conservative when we put that number together. So we're hopeful to be able to mitigate a chunk of that overage down at the bottom line by, um, hopefully just being able to solve that with the radio solution. And then again, the contingencies, that's the money that we would say, you know, that's the rainy day. Money contingencies are unexpected or they are, Hey, it would be great if we put in a blank. Well, you have to pay for the blank. And that's what we keep the contingency for after the fact. So when the police, uh, um, and engine, well, let's start with engine two. When the engine two number comes in, in a, in a couple of months, you know, the number will snap the line and that becomes the budget. Once we add that in that, and then anything that we need beyond that construction number moving forward will come out of that contingency, you know, obviously through the project team vetted by both Vertex and do Whittier. And we would move forward with that. So, you know, it's hard to be as rigid with the phase two and phase three projects because as Don said, we're really just into programming. So we haven't really fully defined the what yet. It's coming into greater and greater focus every day, but there's still months and months of work left to do and they're really only just getting started. But I think the work and the trend that we're seeing for police and engine two, we're pretty happy about that for right now. Um, especially with everything we've heard in the news and whatnot. Um, I think that we're, we're in good, we're in good shape. So, um, I know it's a lot of numbers, but I'll stop there and throw it out and try to answer whatever questions you have. Counsel

▶ 2:12:04 Speaker 6: Ro? Yes, thank you.

▶ 2:12:05 Speaker 1: Um, just a question about the contingencies.

▶ 2:12:12 Speaker 1: who you don't use that money in the contingencies, will that be moved over to the other properties?

▶ 2:12:16 Speaker 4: So, great question. I think we're tracking this right now to say the number for the properties is the number that, the number that was appropriate is what we are tracking towards. And if there are savings, that's not us. It's not up to us to say, Ooh, we got a million dollars, let's put it into this building. No, that's specifically why we set it up this way so that we had a reasonable contingency based on what the project team felt we would be comfortable with. And then everything else, a don't, the, the best dollar is a dollar that's not spent. Right?

▶ 2:12:46 Speaker 1: So, so that 7 million right now is, um,

▶ 2:12:51 Cal Finocchiaro: in addition to the contingency money or so Okay. Yeah.

▶ 2:12:54 Speaker 4: Below the line. Okay. Correct. Um, that's great.

▶ 2:12:58 Cal Finocchiaro: I I mean, I know construction enough where contingency money is important because it's always unexpected

▶ 2:13:03 Speaker 4: Things. Yeah. You can't, you, you, you cannot build a, anybody that tells you they do a project without change orders is lying like it happens. Mm-hmm. As Don said, if you had told us that we would have found that sort of geothermal result mm-hmm. In Melrose, we have no way. Mm-hmm. And sure enough, so you never know what you're going to find. So having a contingency is good. Having some buffer beyond the contingency is good. If, God forbid there's an issue. One of the, as an example, one of the other things that we found, um, with police was yes, we had redesigned, yes, we had, you know, some additional costs, but we also found that the hazmat results when they actually dug into it, I think almost by a factor of eight or nine, those over almost a million dollars in hazmat remediation that needs to take place in the dv. Because, you know, when you get one of those reports and they say, you know, on a cursory level they do a good job, but they don't really do any destructive testing. Mm-hmm. And when the firm went back and dug deeper, you find that issue. So that's the one of the biggest cost drivers that, and the change to the roof design was added cost for Jordan Whittier, and it was an added cost, a sloped roof costs more to build on top of a building than a just a plain flat roof. Mm-hmm. I think it looks great as well, but you know, I think where we are in the fact that we're over, even despite those two things, the current climate in the bid market tells me we probably have a very good chance of getting that number back, back to the appropriation number.

▶ 2:14:34 Cal Finocchiaro: Yep. I don't know how you figure out all these numbers, the contingent systems and all that, that's why you guys are the professionals. But, um, it's, it's fascinating all the components that go into these, these buildings and it's, there's four of them. So it's, it's remarkable.

▶ 2:14:49 Speaker 4: We were always concerned with, and the mayor, um, Denise, the, the advisory committee, everyone's always concerned, we don't want to, you don't want to run out of money right. And not be able to do buildings three and four. Mm-hmm. So that was paramount to make sure that we stayed within the framework that Dorn Rudy had originally put together.

▶ 2:15:11 Cal Finocchiaro: Great. And I know that's been a concern that's been tossed around the community, so it's really nice to see that you are, you don't have that buffer turning

▶ 2:15:16 Speaker 4: In the right direction right now. Yeah.

▶ 2:15:20 Speaker 2: Thank you. So that, anyone else?

▶ 2:15:22 Speaker 6: Council Van? Uh,

▶ 2:15:23 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you Chair Repe. Uh, my question is about a, um, so we see these numbers, these are great, they're really clear. I love how they're split out. Um, I know we, um, have an appropriation request coming before us soon, um, for a number that's not exactly a match to any of these numbers. Um, and it also is related to all four buildings. So I was wondering if you could speak to the need and let me know if that's not something to speak to right now, but if you could speak to

▶ 2:15:51 Mark Garipay: The need for that also, I'm sorry, sorry to interrupt, but I think that'll, that's gonna be in the order and we'll have the CFO thank that'll be able to explain how we think all that'll get divided out. I think there's some other, other ways on that, so, okay. I'm assuming you, you guys aren't involved in the financing portion in the bonding of it itself?

▶ 2:16:06 Denise Gaffey: No. I would only say, you know, um, that there was the appropriation a year ago to kickstart all of this work and the amount of like 5.5 million. So the, the request that's coming down now is the difference between, I see the original, um, amount in the feasibility study that the, that the public voted on roughly one 30 minus that 5.5. And that's Why you're seeing that number at 1 1 24 0.5,

▶ 2:16:32 Speaker 10: I believe. Exactly. Yeah. Thank you.

▶ 2:16:32 Speaker 4: That's helpful. The budget and the budgets that we share with Denise and company, we track commitments against those. So realize that, you know, as an example, I don't even have anything in our contract right now for projects three and four. We haven't gotten there yet. And these folks have only just started. So the reality is, is the big chunk of Liz, Denise just said that chunk is baked, it is included in these numbers that you see in front of you primarily for police and engine two. It's just, you know, I could tell you with another sheet where, where it all is to date.

▶ 2:17:07 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. That, that's helpful. That's all. Thank you.

▶ 2:17:12 Mark Garipay: Thanks. Um, anyone else? Well, thank you all for being here. We appreciate the, uh, the update. I'm sure, uh, everyone at home appreciates the residents appreciate the update.

▶ 2:17:23 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, so should we make a motion to place on file?