The July meeting of the Hudson Planning Board saw slowed progress on the ongoing project to renovate Town Hall. According to Town Engineer Elvis Dhima, the Board of Selectmen encountered several roadblocks in attempting to maintain key services during the renovation process without incurring additional costs.
“We started the process, but unfortunately, we’ve received some concerning red flags regarding how this whole thing is going to play out here,” reported Dhima. “They took a step back and established the Town Hall Advisory Committee, also known as THAC.”
He asked the Planning Board to appoint a representative to THAC. The new committee was also set to have Selectmen and Budget Committee representatives, along with one resident and a non-voting advisor from NorthPoint Construction.
“The idea is to get everyone’s feedback, get some representation from everyone in the community, trying to understand what makes the most sense,” said Dhima. “I think the idea from the Board of Selectmen is they want to make sure they get this right the first time. We don’t want to do things two, three, or four times, and you as a Planning Board always talk about doing things right the first time. I think that’s the intent.”
The goal of THAC would be to determine the size and scope of the Town Hall renovation project, getting back to town officials with a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen by November 1.
Selectmen Liaison Bob Guessferd conceded that the renovation was “difficult” and that the goal was to move forward with the renovation quickly without incurring excessive costs. Warrant Article 11, with an allocation of $54,800 toward the Town Hall renovation, passed by a relatively narrow margin last March.
“We’re looking for this board to select somebody relatively soon,” he said. “It’s going to involve a significant amount of money no matter what we do. It’s balancing providing services to the people in town that we can. We don’t want to affect services while we grow. We don’t want to do what we did in the past where we build something, and it’s already too small. We want to do this right and at the same time, we already know how frugal this town is. If it’s too much money, the citizens may not vote for it. We’re trying to balance all of those aspects of this to try and come up with a solution that everybody can buy into.”
The Planning Board debated who to choose for the new committee with two volunteers.
“I’d say we vote on it, make it official. If we have two representatives, we’re happy campers. Let’s send them,” said Board member James Crowley.
Dhima stated that the Planning Board could only appoint one full-time member to THAC, with the possibility of an alternate. After some discussion, the Board voted to designate Victor Oates as a voting member of the new committee and Jordan Ulery as alternate.
The first THAC meeting is set for Thursday, July 24, at 5:30 p.m. in the Board of Selectmen meeting room.
