Thursday, April 10, 2008

Town of Branchville "Almost Dead"

Branchville town hall in rubble after a March 15 hit by an F-3 tornado.

These are the words of a city councilman at this weeks town meeting. From the Times and Democrat:



Council members, following a spirited debate Monday, voted to
have a replacement town hall built back in the original town hall location on
Main Street.Engineer Kirk Nivens presented the council with several renderings
of possible building configurations. Nivens also explained a provision in the
state’s procurement code that allows municipalities to pass a resolution
indicating an emergency situation, which allows municipalities to bypass many of
the advertising timing requirements for bid processes.Nivens noted that
following the state’s procurement code would mean at least a two-year time frame
before a new Branchville Town Hall would be in place. However, taking action to
declare an emergency through resolution would mean a new building in seven to
nine months, he said.


Councilman Glenn Miller asked that council members take more
time to consider alternate locations for the replacement town hall.“Our town is
almost dead. We don’t want to bury it,” Miller said. “We need to make sure we
look at all our options.”





Niven's comment is interesting. Is the contractor trying to rush things to get in a first bid? Makes you wonder...