Foxborough Selectmen Discuss the Future of Town Hall

Foxborough may be getting a new town hall at some point in the future. The Selectmen met with architectural firm Kaestle Boos at Tuesday’s meeting to discuss a construction plan.

“The building has serious health issues,” said Town Manager Kevin Paicos.  

Kaestle Boos presented their plans in a detailed report to the Selectmen.  Among the myriad of problems listed in the report were a lack of bathrooms, seismic constraints, low basement ceilings, an inefficient use of workable space and a small meeting room.  Lead paint and mold were also mentioned by Selectmen but not included in the report.

The firm presented two options. One option planned to renovate the existing building, bringing the structure up to state code while adding space to make the building more functional.  The plan carried an estimated cost of $5,210,000. The other option called for a demolition of the Town Hall and constructing another in its place, catered specifically to each departments needs. Estimated cost: $5,294,000.

Ultimately both Kaestle Boos and the selectman agreed that the option of new construction was a more viable plan in the long run.

“The list is a very sound approach,” said Selectman Lorraine Brue. "It allows us to step away from speculation. This project has to be done.”

James Devellis agreed to a point, saying “Putting band aids on to get by is not feasible, but this is the cart leading the horse a little bit.”

The question then came down to how to finance the construction. Paicos and the Selectmen made one point clear: the cost would not be passed on to taxpayers.  

“We will not propose an override for this project,” said Paicos.  “There are revenues around to offset the cost . . . It has to be absorbed into the budget, there is no magic.”

Paicos and Kaestle Boos requested that the Selectman vote to accept one of the construction plans and give the firm permission to go ahead with design while the town develops a finance plan, a process that could take up to six months.  Under this plan, the town could hypothetically sit on a design after it is finished for any period of time until they come up with funding.  

“It’s a win-win,” said Brue.

DeVellis disagreed.  “There’s just too much speculation on how we’re going to pay for it,” he said. “The town can’t afford it.”

The cost of designing a new building is usually about 10% of the building’s cost-estimate, in this case about $500,000.  That money would come from the town’s Capital Stabilization Account, set up by Foxborough specifically for construction purposes such as this one.

With Selectmen Chairman Larry Harrington absent, selectmen members were hesitant to commit the town to design work in this unstable economy.