New facilities manager outlines deferred maintenance, EOC upgrades and EV charger plans

The Public Works director introduced Russ Karlstedt as the town’s facilities manager; Russ gave a brief overview of deferred maintenance across municipal buildings and highlighted recent completed and planned work. He described an AC replacement completed in November after a summer failure, masonry and roofing work planned for the fire station and campus buildings, and improvements to lighting in the business center.

Russ also noted lower‑profile but important work: converting a small room into a secure lactation room for an employee, and preparing an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) display with multiple screens for emergency management. He said the facilities group is planning to install five double‑head level‑2 EV chargers on the municipal campus (locations to be determined) and that much of the ongoing work consists of smaller, operational projects that collectively matter to town services.

Russ stressed the practical challenge of aging facilities and of coordinating repairs within available capital allocations; staff said several capital monies have been previously set aside for facilities-related repairs.