Rutland select board hears extensive problems at new public safety building; clerk of the works named

The Town of Rutland Select Board spent the bulk of its Jan. 28 meeting reviewing systems and construction problems at the town’s new public safety building, and appointed a single clerk of the works to coordinate fixes.

The board heard detailed reports from Ed Dumas, town police chief, and Chris Clark, town fire chief, who described multiple mechanical and electrical items discovered during recent inspections and punch-list reviews. "When the power goes out ... the generator comes on, the fire pump is not energized, and it will not run," Dumas said, describing that the sprinkler control panel was installed without the required transfer switch and that the currently installed fire pump does not meet required flow. "They're going to have to get a new fire pump," he said.

Those issues, Dumas said, leave the building reliant on temporary measures—an on-site truck-fill pump—that the state allowed for short-term occupancy but that town officials said is not an acceptable long-term solution. The police chief also said the fire-pump wiring and transfer-switch arrangement will need corrective work and that responsibility for incorrect or…