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Building Services
The Buildings and Facilities Department is responsible for the maintenance of twenty-one public buildings, as well as the daily management of the Town Hall, the Town Hall Annex, the Police Station, all three Fire Stations and the Senior Center. During 2002, the firm of Edwards and Kelcey, Inc. completed a Facilities Audit to establish the needs of our Town buildings. The results of that audit indicated significant repairs and renovations are needed to many of our sites. These needs have been forwarded to the Capital Budget Committee for their review.
Projects and operational improvements included; the Fire Station Vehicle Exhaust System for all three Fire Stations, the Fire Station Consolidation study, the investigation of a wall repair project at the Municipal Light Department Building, consultation with the BSC Group on a parking project, in conjunction with the school department continued roof repair projects on several of our school buildings, the study of locating the Senior Center at the Kendall site, the continued repair and maintenance to our Town Hall HVAC system, and continued discussion and discovery of a telephone assessment to improve the town system.
The department began the complicated process of a staff relocation project for our town employees when construction begins on the Town Hall Annex Building, scheduled for spring of 2003. In November 2002, the Highway Department and Town Clerk’s Office were the first to move to temporary homes during the construction period. The employees from the Annex building will be relocated to several locations; the municipal light department building, the Town Hall, and modular trailers at Belmont High School during the construction period. Requests for Proposals were issued to compare costs of temporary office space versus modular trailers for several departments. As part of this relocation project, data communication and telecommunication issues have been addressed, to ensure the continuation of electronic services and information. We have worked closely with the Town Hall Complex Building Committee and the architects from Donham and Sweeney, Inc. in the Town Hall Complex Renovation
Project.
Facilities Maintenance
Other Capital Budget Projects we were involved with were the completion of the Payson Park Playground; Mr. David Frizzell, Sr. managed the installation of the project. The Town also took delivery of a new electric Zamboni ice - resurfacing machine, which is a welcome addition to the Viglirolo Skating Rink. This unit replaces a second hand machine we purchased in 1996, which was originally built in 1979. We are also anticipating the delivery of a new utility tractor for the facilities maintenance department. We continued improvements at the skating rink; new exit doors and frames, roof repair, gutters and a new handicap accessible ramp was installed for viewing events. A new roll up overhead door was installed on the stands side of the rink courtesy of the Belmont Ranger Hockey Association.
The town athletic fields continue to enjoy improvements with the financial aid of the Belmont Soccer Association, the Brendan Grant Foundation, and the Belmont Baseball Association. The Belmont Soccer Association spent $22,000 to maintain the Pequosette, Grove Street and Junior Varsity Soccer fields. This work included slice seeding, sodding, fertilizing, and weed control. At the Grove Street field, the Belmont Baseball Association was responsible for the installation of a new little league diamond with an irrigation system, and new varsity and junior varsity girl’s softball diamonds at both the Concord Avenue and Hittinger Street fields were created, materials provided by the Baseball Association. A new varsity baseball diamond with an outfield fence was completed at the Concord Avenue site courtesy of the Brendan
Grant Foundation. The facilities maintenance staff worked closely with the Belmont High School Athletic Facility Building Committee and all of the town sports organizations in the care and maintenance of the athletic fields.
Respectfully submitted,
Wm. Kevin Looney, Manager
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