Published in the June 25, 2018 edition.

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD – Tomorrow’s Special Election will determine the fate of an $8 million expansion/upgrade of the Public Safety Building that Annual Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved on May 7. After Town Meeting voted 168-41 to approve the project, a group led by Robert McLaughlin of Water Street and Robert Mitchell of Spaulding Street collected enough signatures to take advantage of a Town Charter provision requiring that any Town Meeting article go before the voters in an election if 200 people petition for it.

But it all started long before last month’s Town Meeting.

When voters go to vote in tomorrow’s Special Election to decide if the town will expand and upgrade the Public Safety Building, it will be the culmination of a public process that began over three years ago.

According to Police Chief Rick Smith, he has been telling town officials since shortly after the last Public Safety Building renovation was completed in 2003 that the space was woefully inadequate for a Police Department the size of Wakefield’s.

More than three years ago, Chief Smith was before the Finance Committee to present his department’s budget. But he also took the opportunity to reminded them of the issues with the building that his officers were working in.

At that March 26, 2015 FinCom meeting, Chief Smith talked about maintenance problems at the police portion of the Public Safety Building, which is the old part of the building. He talked about things breaking prematurely, reporting issues with boilers, air conditioning units and electrical problems.

“We really have to take a hard look at that building,” Smith said at the time, noting that the building is used 24 hours a day, every day. “The town has to invest some money in it,” he told the FinCom. “To keep that building up and running is a daunting task.”

A year later, both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee agreed that the issues at the Public Safety Building warranted a serious look and supported a Town Meeting article to appropriate $100,000 for a needs assessment. Town Meeting also agreed, and in the spring of 2016 approved the funding to study the Public Safety Building.

Throughout the summer of 2016, The Permanent Building Committee went about the process of finding a qualified firm to conduct the needs assessment. By September of that year, they had narrowed the field down to two: Allen Lieb Architects and HKT Architects. In September of 2016, the Permanent Building Committee chose HKT Architects of Somerville study the needs of the Public Safety Building.

By December 2016, HKT was ready to report on some of its preliminary findings. On Dec. 19, 2016, the Permanent Building Committee met with HKT in a public session in the Community Room at the public Safety Building.

HKT reported finding that there was not enough space to meet the department’s current needs or future needs. Some spaces were not large enough when built and others had been repurposed to accommodate needs that outgrew their spaces. Technology had also expanded, HKT noted, requiring additional space.

A major focus of the presentation that evening was how to address the shortage of space. The study found that a vertical addition would be problematic and costly due to the fact that the current building as constructed could not bear the load of a third story. A horizontal expansion of the front of the building would be the way to go, the HKT reps told the Permanent Building Committee. Also discussed that night were options for increasing the size of the sally port.

HKT also reported that the building’s mechanical equipment, the heating, air conditioning, ventilation and exhaust systems were in “fair” condition and, along with boilers and pumps, were approaching the end of their serviceable life.

Another major concern was the location of dispatch on the second floor, leaving the lobby manned only a few hours a day by the public records officer.

HKT continued its work over the next six months, meeting regularly with the Permaent Building Committee and representatives of the Police and Fire Departments.

In June of 2017, HKT released its complete report, with a 46-page narrative and well over 100 pages of architectural plans, drawings and cost estimates. (The full report is available on the town’s web site.)

“With renovation and modifications to the existing building and approximately 4,000 square feet of additional area added to the structure,” the HKT report concluded, “it is possible for the existing facility to expand and create a station sized to meet [The Police Department’s] current and projected future needs.”

At a public meeting October 16, 2017, Permanent Building Committee Chairman Joseph Bertrand and Janet Slemenda of HKT Architects gave a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation to the Board of Selectmen on the findings of the study and the proposed upgrades to the Public Safety Building.

In the early months of 2018, both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee gave their unanimous support to the proposed $8 million renovation/expansion, which would appear as Article 8 on the Annual Town Meeting warrant.

At the May 7 session of Annual Town Meeting, Police Chief Rick Smith provided a detailed PowerPoint presentation on the deficiencies and needs of the Public Safety Building and asked for an affirmative vote on Article 8 to fund the work. A major component of the plan, he stressed, was the relocation of dispatch to the first floor, making a police officer available in the lobby 24 hours a day.

The discussion at the May 7 Town Meeting lasted two-and-a-half hours.

Bob McLaughlin of Water Street advocated making needed repairs to the Public Safety Building out of Capital Outlay over the next several years and then dealing with relocating dispatch after that.

Robert Mitchell of Spaulding Street claimed that he agreed that the issues that Smith had identified needed to be addressed but expressed concern about expanding the building footprint on a lot that is “already maxed out.”

Bronwyn Della-Volpe also acknowledged that deficiencies in the building need to be addressed but claimed that no breakdown of costs had been presented and people had not had enough time to study the floor plan and the costs. She also wanted to know why it took so long for the Chief to come forward with his concerns if they have been so longstanding.

Elizabeth Lowry of Green Street wondered why the PowerPoint presentation wasn’t offered before Town Meeting, insisting that it should have been on the town’s web site long ago.

Bertrand pointed out that the presentation had been made at a televised Board of Selectmen meeting last year and a building tour was done for the public.

Charles McCauley of Lawrence Street wanted to know how much taxes would go up as a result to the Public Safety Building project. FinCom Chairman Sherman said that it would not result in a tax increase because it was being done within Proposition 2 ½ and within revenue projections.

All seven members of the Town Council (formerly the Board of Selectmen) spoke in favor of the proposed Public Safety Building expansion/renovation proposed under Article 8.

Article 8 ultimately passed at Town Meeting by a vote of 168-41.

Subsequently, Mitchell and Mclaughlin collected over 200 signatures to force tomorrow’s Special Election.