Lanesborough Selectmen Finalize Police Building Committee
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — After several months of back and forth between town officials and the community on the location and design, the Board of Selectmen finalized the five members of the Police Building Committee on Monday.
The members will be Bill Calderwood, Kristen Tool, William Cook, Tim Sorrell and Glen Storie. Police Chief Robert Derksen will also serve as a non-voting member of the committee.
Board Chair John Goerlach said he has continued to hear feedback on the building's design, including its cost, size and location.
"How we can come to terms with that as a committee is something I hope you guys can address," he said.
Goerlach said he has already begun working with some of the committee members. He noted the town and Jacunski Humes Architects, the firm designing the building, could still make changes to lower costs.
"I've already had Bill Calderwood go through the list that Jacunski and Humes gave us to try to cut numbers and adjust numbers where he needed to as to what he thought the items might be," he said. "Like the construction and concrete, he thought was heavy. There were some other spots like the generator. They've got, from what we can figure based on the fire station, oversized by 50 percent. So that's a big chunk of money. So these are things that Bill was doing."
In addition to Derksen, Town Administrator Joshua Lang will also serve on the committee as a non-voting member. Lang has attended several committee meetings beyond the Board of Selectmen since he started at the position in January.
"I think it would be good, probably, for me to attend the meetings," he said. "Especially given some of the financial questions, as well as looking at some grant opportunities. So I'm happy to participate as a non-voting member as well."
While seven residents applied to be on the committee, the board ultimately chose five to serve. Board member Michael Murphy said this should make the process go quickly.
"I hate to turn anybody away whose interested in serving. Although, I'm worried about it becoming too cumbersome of a committee. Time is of the essence," he said.
The original design, which the town planned on building in Laston Memorial Park, saw significant criticism from residents. The board then created a new design, based on feedback, at the current police station location at 8 Prospect St.
In other business, the board entered an executive session to discuss the administrative assistant position after facing significant complaints from residents and town employees over the hiring last month.
The board heard a presentation from Wylie Goodman of Berkshire Regional Planning Commission on its five-year Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy report. Goodman asked the board to provide feedback within the next month.
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