By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — Regular Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved an additional $2.5 million for the expansion and renovation of the Public Safety building, but not before some questions were raised and some token opposition was mounted at Saturday morning’s session.
The additional funds will supplement the $9.6 million approved at the June 2020 Annual Town Meeting to enlarge and rehabilitate the police side of the Public Safety Building.
Permanent Building Committee Chairman Joseph Bertrand made the motion under Article 3 for the additional money and discussed the reasons that the supplemental funding was needed.
“Due to the pandemic, the cost of construction has skyrocketed,” Bertrand said. He also blamed product availability issues caused by weather-related plant shutdowns, increased reliance on overseas supply chains and clogged seaports, making it difficult to acquire construction materials.
He also cited labor shortages, scarcity of shipping containers and decreased availability of ground transportation as factors.
He said that it was the general consensus in the construction industry that prices would not go down but would stabilize.
Bob McLaughlin of Water Street opposed the additional funding. He noted that in 2018, a Special Election had rejected the then $8 million PSB expansion/renovation only to have substantially the same project proposed again in 2020, with a higher price tag.
After the latest request for more funds, he added, “We’ll end up with the most expensive Public Safety Building on record.” He said that the town should have purchased the current MG Fitness property years ago when it was for sale and built a new police station on the site.
McLaughlin argued that the Permanent Building Committee should work within the budget that was already approved for the project.
Bronwyn Della-Volpe said that the Public Safety Building project “has been a fiasco from the start.”
She said that she understood that construction costs have done up, but she was distressed at the attitude of the Permanent Building Committee when it became apparent that extra money would be needed.
Della-Volpe paraphrased member Chip Tarbell’s comments at a Permanent Building Committee Meeting last August. Tarbell was venting his frustration at the time over delays in the project.
“As far as I’m concerned, Town Meeting put us in this position. Town Meeting can get us out of this position,” Tarbell said at the August meeting. “It’s not our fault or our job to try to find money now. They delayed this thing three years. We could have had it built and done for $8 million two and a half years ago.”
Della-Volpe asserted at Saturday’s Town Meeting that Tarbell’s comments showed “disdain” for the voters after they rejected the original project at a Special Election.
“They are in a tough spot and they can’t help that prices have gone up and they can’t help the pandemic,” she said of the Permanent Building Committee. “But they can help their approach, their transparency and their attitude towards the voting body in Wakefield.”
Tarbell responded, saying that his blood was “boiling” after Della-Volpe’s comments. He insisted that his remarks did not reflect “disdain” for Town Meeting but rather his faith in Town Meeting.
“That is my trust in this group,” he said. He maintained that by voting the additional money, Town Meeting would be “doing the right thing” to give the Police and Fire Department the building they deserve.
Daniel Lieber of Elm Street wanted to know if the higher cost estimates had been reviewed by an independent party.
Bertrand said that the estimated costs came from an independent estimator with no connection to the project.
Lieber questioned the wisdom of “throwing money at a 70-year-old building. He recommended “starting fresh.”
Town Councilor Jonathan Chines blamed the cost increases on “bad luck” and said that the plan on the table was the best option.
Benny Wheat of Meriam Street asked when the final, firm cost of the project would be known.
Bertrand replied that that would happen “in a month or two.” He explained that the town went with the “Construction Manager at Risk (CMR) model for the project, so once the final price is established, it can’t go up.
Ami Wall of Pleasant Street reminded Town Meeting that they were warned that the cost would go up if the project was delayed.
“We were told this would happen,” she said.
Phil Renzi, a member of the Permanent Building Committee, noted that the project had been approved, overturned and then reassessed by a different committee.
“This is the project,” he said. He argued that to stop now and not fully fund the project would be “such a waste of resources.”
“We can’t keep punting projects down the line,” he said.
Since a two-thirds majority was required for approval, Town Moderator William Carroll called for a hand count of the votes. Town Meeting approved Article 3 and the additional $2.5 million for the Public Safety Building 103-7.
