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Date: 6/15/2023
BRIMFIELD — Recently, the town of Brimfield received its structural engineering report back on the assessment of the Town Hall Building and Town Hall Annex Building. The purpose of the inspection was to review the existing building structures and to comment on the building’s condition. At the Select Board meeting on June 5, member Suzanne Collins informed the town that work needs to be done by October because there are major structural issues in both buildings.
Johnson Structural Engineering who performed the inspection on May 4 previously performed a structural review on the Town Hall Annex building in August of 2016 with Jones Whitsett Architects. A majority of the structural items noted in the 2016 report are still applicable today based on JSE’s most recent site visit with the exception of the leaning side wall, sloped exterior side stairs and interior water damage which pertain to the one-story connection and barn structure that have since been demolished. This includes the cracked, checked, and rotated roof framing members, the severe slopes in flooring at the first floor and second floor levels, bowed exterior walls, and inadequate shoring. During their site visit on May 4, JSE noticed some horizontal movement in the chimney located on the right side of the building. The existing deck/fire escape structure located on the second-floor level along the right side of the building does not have a ladder or stair down to grade, it is missing a guard along one side and the rails are structurally inadequate. They also observed that the exterior wall along the left side of the building has an inward lean and it’s around four to five inches out of plumb. The structural issues noted in this report and the 2016 report will not improve without substantial structure repairs and reinforcement. The issues may worsen over time if they are not addressed. Due to the extent and severity of the issues, it is JSE’s professional opinion that a decision is made in the near future whether to proceed with repairing and reinforcing the existing structure or to look for a new facility.
The Town Hall Building has signs of water damage at the second-floor level and areas of water damage to the roof decking and bell tower floor structure. The low, flat roof at the rear of the building is in poor condition. The existing foundation is comprised of field stone and masonry and the mortar in the masonry joints and field stone joints are deteriorated. The exterior wall along the front right side of the building when viewed from Main Street is leaning inward. It was discussed to construct a second-floor addition within the first-floor meeting room. The second-floor addition will need to be kept structurally separated from the existing building structure in order to not impose any additional gravity or lateral loads onto the existing building. Substantial structural repairs and reinforcing will be required to address the structural issues noted before considering any renovations to the existing building. Due to the extent and severity of the issues, it was JSE’s professional opinion that a decision is made in the near future whether to proceed with repairing and reinforcing the existing structure or look for a new facility.
Collins stated, “We might have a special Town Meeting because we’re not sure how expensive this is going to be, but for the safety of the people that are in the Town Hall building we might have to look at office trailers.” She continued, “We don’t have a proposal on what it’s going to cost to make the building safe and the structural engineer did say that it needs to be done before snow fall because of the structural deficiencies of the building.”
The chair of the Building Committee told the board that the Annex has a lot of extensive costs and the committee voted not to look at saving it moving forward. The committee will look at options for the Town Hall building.