The Town of Lincoln, MA - CPC Minutes

Ann Janes and Susan Harding, on behalf of the Cemetery Commission, discussed the Commission’s proposal for funding the repairs to the William Lawrence Table Top Marker at the Bemis Hall cemetery (2008-6). The amount requested - $8,600 - is based on an estimate from Ivan Myjer with the Building & Monument Conservation Company. He was referred to the Cemetery Commission by Warrant Flint. Two other preservationists, Carol Snow and Acton Monument, would not touch this project, due to the fragile nature of the monument, and its difficult location in the middle of the cemetery.

The Cemetery Commission seeks funding of $6,000 from the CPC, and hopes to get the balance of the needed funding from other donors. At the moment, they have no commitments for the additional funding, other than a pledge of $600 from the Lincoln Cultural Council. The Committee noted its reluctance to both over fund a proposal and to underfund it, and asked the Cemetery Commission to provide updates on its fundraising success.

The Committee questioned whether this is a project that should be undertaken by First Parish, given that William Lawrence was the first minister of that church. Funding considerations aside, it was thought that the memorial is more an historic asset to the town as a whole, not just the property of First Parish.

The Committee asked if there were other monuments that might be needing restoration in the future. The response was that there were none that were anticipated to require the same magnitude of repairs. The Cemetery Commission has undertaken repairs of other monuments in the past, at much lower cost.

Susan Brooks, Lincoln Town Clerk, discussed her proposal for funding preservation of town records in the Town Hall vault (2008-7). The primary goal of the project is to index what records exist and what condition they are in. In addition, there would be some triage preservation where needed. This project is limited to the records of the Town Clerk’s office, and would not include records of other town offices in the vault. It is hoped that at the conclusion of this project, the Town Clerk would have a better idea of what else needs to be done to organize and preserve those records.

The requested funding of $7720 is based on a fixed fee quote from Bill Carroll, an archivist who has done work for the library. The quote covers 120 hours of work for $4,200 ($35/hour) plus materials. The Town Clerk has a written proposal from Mr. Carroll, and will provide it to the Committee.

The Committee and Ms. Brooks discussed the interplay between the records at Town Hall, and those at the library. The library’s current historic vault does not have enough room for many more records. The Town Hall vault, which is in the basement, has no dehumidifier or any other atmospheric controls. Some of the records at Town Hall are on microfilm, but there is no microfilm reader at Town Hall. When a certified copy is requested, the Town Clerk has to take the records to the library to print out a copy, then bring it back to Town Hall for certification.

Barbara Myles, Jack Pugh and Peter Sugar, on behalf of the Lincoln Library, discussed the Library’s two funding proposals: repair and upgrade to the library elevator smoke vent (2008-1) and expansion of the library fire-protection system (2008-2).

2008-1: The $20,000 requested for the smoke vent is based on a quote from Fraser Engineering Company. The library will attempt to obtain at least two additional quotes, based on the design drawings of Fitzmeyer & Tocci.

The current venting system is not up to code, and results in sub par functioning of the elevator, due to cooling/freezing of the hydraulic fluid used to raise and lower the elevator.

2008-2: The library has submitted proposals to fund expansion of its fire suppression system over five years, with a focus on the most vulnerable areas first - the basement and the attic. Those areas are more critical because they are not regularly occupied, so there is more chance of a fire going undetected for longer.

The proposal for FY ’08 includes $7,300 to replace to book drop with a free standing unit. Internal book drops pose risks of someone putting something flammable into the book drop. The proposal also includes funding to upgrade the Fire Alarm Control Panel to provide for more detailed reporting to the fire department on the location of a fire within the library.

The amounts requested are based on the fire system upgrade report prepared by RDK Engineers. The components of the funding include a 5% escalation factor, 15% design contingency and a 10% construction contingency. The actual cost would be subject to actual bids received.

Judith Gross and Richard Silver, on behalf of the Pierce House, discussed the Pierce House proposal for funding (2008-5). The projects to be funded, and the costs estimates are both based on the report of McGinley, Kalsow & Associates, the company hired by the town to perform the town-wide facility review, except that the cost for the bathroom repairs is based on the quote of Dana Mahnken, who is the regular fix-it guy at the Pierce House.

Ms. Gross and Mr .Silver admitted as to how they thought MKA gave only a very cursory review of the Pierce House. They were not at all sure that the cost estimates given by MKA were at all accurate. The Committee agreed that the cost estimates appeared to be all over the map, especially $30,000 to repoint the interior stone basement walls (seems h high), as compared to only $5,000 to reframe the floor on the first floor (seems low).

Part of the Pierce House funding request includes $30,000 for a feasibility study to prepare a master plan for undertaking the Pierce House repairs. This is different than the business plan study that is proposed. The Pierce House received a $15,000 grant for a business plan study, but no bids were received for that price. Instead, the Pierce House is working with a group of students from Bentley College at no charge.

The Committee asked about the status of projects funded at Town Meeting earlier this year. The basement ceiling work is to be done this winter. The front door work is complicated by item A-1 in the MKA report, requiring raising of the handicapped ramp to the front door; however, the terrace door will be reversed. The fire panel is ok now, having been fixed at no cost by a Lincoln fireman during a recent inspection.

The Committee briefly discussed the funding requests from the Conservation Commission (2008-3 and 2008-4). It was suggested that the $25,000 maintenance funding which was part of the Hugh Value Conservation Land Purchase (2008-4) would perhaps be more appropriate as funding for the Conservation Fund under 2008-3.

The Tot Lot is anticipated to be constructed in November. The DPW will clear the area for free, so the Recreation Committee has been waiting for DPW availability. The playground design is complete and the equipment is ready to be installed.

Minuteman students are working on the auxiliary apartment on Sunnyside. It is anticipated that construction of the new modular house and auxiliary apartment on Sunnyside will be completed before the end of the year.