The Public Facilities Committee met on Wednesday, June 17. See the report and meeting video.
Approved
- $150,000 repurposed and $177,000 transferred for Fire Station 2 renovations — 7-0. The funds will renovate the shower and locker room at Fire Station 2, covering construction, asbestos removal, potential waterproofing, fixtures, a ventilation inspection, and contingency. The Chair questioned the roughly $280,000 cost for a single long room; the Commissioner of Public Buildings said that quotes were solicited from two on-call contractors, and this was the less expensive option. When asked about a higher shower wall to accommodate a more diverse workforce, Commissioner Valcarce said he would discuss it with the Fire Chief.
- $900,000 transferred for roadways, sidewalks, and ramps — Approved as amended 7-0. The Public Works Commissioner requested that the $900,000 be redirected to the Snow and Ice budget rather than the Paving Supplies Override account, to cover roughly $850,000 in late-submitted invoices from a snow-and-ice contractor whose contract was not fully executed until late May. DPW described corrective measures, including barring contractors whose agreements are not executed before winter and enhanced real-time expenditure tracking. The paving funds will now rely on next year’s Free Cash.
No Action Necessary
- Study on removing the Bullough’s Pond dam — 7-0. The Chief Operating Officer presented four rehabilitation options: dam removal, a new core-wall dam, a buried secant-pile wall, and downstream erosion protection. Both the new core-wall and buried secant-pile wall require the dam to be reconstructed. A working-group criteria matrix ranked the buried secant-pile wall highest (+7), citing the lowest construction cost ($8.4M–$11M), lowest breach risk, and no utility disruption; dam removal ranked lowest (-8), with an estimated lifecycle cost exceeding $100 million. All options involve tree removal. The secant-pile wall requires few trees be removed than a new core-wall. The Charles River Watershed Association submitted a letter requesting access to the full hydrologic and hydraulic modeling and a public Q&A session. A future item will be docketed for a straw vote and, eventually, funding.
Present: Councilors Kalis (Chair), Getz, Albright, Gordon, Dahmubed, Grossman, and Kelley.
Absent: Councilor Leary.
Also present: Councilor Malakie.
City staff: Alex Valcarce, Commissioner of Public Buildings; Shawna Sullivan, Commissioner of Public Works; Doug Botelho, Manager of Financial Services; Josh Morse, Chief Operating Officer; Maureen Lemieux, Chief Financial Officer.