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Date: 7/20/2021
WILLIAMSBURG – During the Williamsburg Board of Selectmen’s July 15 meeting, the board discussed repairing the HVAC system at the Anne T. Dunphy School and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation project on Mountain Street.
After Anne T. Dunphy school Principal Stacey Jenkins said she was hoping to use American Rescue Plan Act funds to replace the HVAC units, Town Administrator Nick Caccamo said he was concerned the funds would not be eligible and the town had not yet received them.
“The concern I have is that the town has not received the money yet and it is not clear that an HVAC system is going to fall under those guidelines. Infrastructure is supposed to be largely related to water, infrastructure and broadband,” he said.
In terms of the problems with the school’s HVAC system, Jenkins said the air conditioning does not work in the school’s B Wing.
“Right now, B Wing is not functioning so there is no air conditioning, but the ventilation still works, so I do worry about that coming into the fall. I am worried that even if we all agree and go out to bid today the project will not be done before school starts,” she said.
She said she wanted to repair the HVAC system by the beginning of the school year.
“We need a functioning HVAC system, when school ended it was not working on that wing and it was 87 degrees in those rooms. People were in okay spirits because school was ending, but it will not be like that when school starts,” Jenkins said.
One way Jenkins said the system could be fixed sooner was by declaring the problem an emergency.
“Because it involves schools and HVAC, there are some places moving forward with it as an emergency form to get it done before school. Places are having success writing a letter and waiving the bid process. Athol has done that, and they have done $500,000 in HVAC work through this,” she said.
The board ultimately took no action over the HVAC system and agreed to discuss it further after meeting with Jamrog HVAC.
After discussing the HVAC repairs, the board then jumped into a discussion with residents from Mountain Street and surrounding neighborhoods who are opposed to the alternative MassDOT selected to repair the street.
Board Chair Dave Mathers said he spoke to representatives from MassDOT and said that the alternative residents were in favor of had already been declined but they could pursue a variance.
“Alternative 4 actually has a 25 percent design that was turned over to Boston and the Complete Streets people rejected it because of safety concerns for bicyclists and pedestrians. You could argue for variance, but you have to convince them and me that keeping the road the same width is going to be safer than fixing it the right way,” he said.
One concern Mathers said he received from multiple residents was that the road is not wide enough for bicyclists and drivers to coexist safely.
“I have had numerous people that commute there every day complain about the bicyclists and how unsafe it is to drive over the centerline to pass. They are concerned because when you force somebody to drive over the center line and if they get into an accident, they are at fault because they crossed,” he said.
One resident said she was in favor of keeping Mountain Street the way it is.
“We would rather keep Mountain Street, Mountain Street; it is going to be a highway. The money is important, but we need to work together to find a different way to raise this money. I would rather see it stay the way it is than be fixed,” she said.
If the project were to be put on hold or cancelled, Mathers said it would take at least $3 million to repair it through a contractor.
“Every year we wait, we spend another $10,000 on patch work. If we did the project ourselves, we would have to go out to bid and it would be about $3 million to do the project with a contractor, maybe more and it would have to go back to the taxpayers,” he said.
Ultimately the board agreed to send a letter to MassDOT asking them to reconsider alternative 4 for the project.