Williamstown Youth Center Sets March 15 GroundbreakingBy Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
12:10PM / Thursday, January 12, 2012 | |
 The playing field at Williamstown Elementary School have already been rearranged and construction is expected to begin in March. |
Youth Center Executive Director David Rempell updated the School Committee on Wednesday on the progress the center is having with the new building set to be constructed on the school's land. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Groundbreaking for the new Youth Center is scheduled for March 15 and lease agreements are expected to be approved next month.
According to Youth Center Executive Director David Rempell, everything is on schedule for the March groundbreaking on the Elementary School property after the project was delayed a second time in October. Construction is expected to last seven months with completion on Oct. 1 and occupancy on Oct. 31.
The center was originally planned to break ground in June 2010 but was delayed by contentious debate and later delayed in October to provide center officials with more time to plan and create a strict guideline to minimize change orders.
"We got it right," Rempell told the Elementary School Committee on Wednesday night as he presented an animated video tour of the yet-to-be-constructed center. "This seems to fit into the plot just right."
The center has already redesigned the playing field and move the playground to make room for the 15,000 square-foot building. Rempell also provided school officials with a very detailed timeline for construction, which is available below, and added that the center reserved an additional $60,000 in contingency because the architects were uncertain how much extra work would be involved in digging up the foundation of the former Mitchell School.
Meanwhile, the town's attorney has been working on a draft lease agreement for the school's land that has now been turned over to both school and center officials to finish negotiating. The final draft is expected to be approved by Youth Center officials on Feb. 6 and the School Committee on Feb. 8.
Town Manager Peter Fohlin said town council drafted the agreement in the "best interest of the taxpayers" and the attorney was not "privy to local sensibilities" and therefore; the lease may not be right for both parties. The center and the school will need to finish the work, he said.
"I think [the draft lease] is very comprehensive and covers all the bases," Adam Filson, School Committee member, said.
Youth Center President Paul Jennings said center officials were also satisfied with the first draft and that lawyers will easily be able to handled the final negotiations by then.
Fohlin did point out two particular items missing from the lease; one being a description of the property and the other being there is no mention of the school having access to the center's audit reports. The former was left out because it will require the school and the center to agree to the descriptive language and the latter was merely an oversight because all parties had agreed on sharing the audit reports, Fohlin said.
School Committee Chairwoman Margaret McCommish questioned the language surrounding a maintenance fund, which center officials have previously said would consist of a $50,000 endowment, and the amount of insurance the center will carry after the center asked to reduce a previously discussed $5 million policy to $3 million.
Fohlin said the town's insurance carrier agreed that a $3 million insurance policy would be adequate and Filson said the committee already approved the maintenance fund but the attorney did not have the minutes from that meeting and, therefore, the language in the draft is inaccurate and will be changed.
The building is being paid for from the Youth Center's capital campaign it started in early 2010.
Williamstown Youth Center Construction Timeline 2012
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