Brookfield Town reviews plans for town office addition, asks presenter for refined drawings and cost estimates

S3, the presenter, showed preliminary elevations and a floor plan for a proposed addition to the Brookfield Town office, noting the drawings were preliminary and subject to change. He walked the board through the front and rear elevations, an attic window, a generator room and a proposed rear addition, and said he could redraw elements after the group agreed priorities.

The board focused first on the interior layout. S3 described three street-facing offices roughly 11½ feet wide and a large 20-by-21-foot space that could function either as a workroom or a second meeting/conference room. S2 argued for placing an archivist workspace next to the vault to make day-to-day archives work more efficient; S3 and other participants agreed the layout could be adjusted to keep the archivist near the vault and to create a shared "common" office space for officials who meet the public.

Members raised circulation and code questions about the stair layout. S4 said the existing stairs “feel too shallow,” and participants discussed whether one set of stairs with a landing could replace two. S3 explained truss locations and headroom constraints and said a single set with an appropriate landing is feasible but would change the plan’s circulation and access points.

Storage and utilities were a recurring concern. S1 and others said the preliminary plan lacked secure storage and a dedicated electronics/servers closet; S2 proposed a closed, lockable staircase room to secure utilities and free up common space. S3 suggested several options, including placing electronics under staircase headroom but acknowledged rack-mounting and a secure wall-mounted room would be preferable.

On mechanical systems, S1 asked whether the building requires a central heating plant. S3 and S2 discussed using individual radiant systems (Renai/radiant) as a lower-cost, office-level solution that lets occupants control heat locally instead of relying on a central system.

A key choice discussed was whether to increase the building footprint by an extra 12 feet to provide more flexible space and storage. S3 recommended adding the extra bay now to avoid reworking the foundation later, saying—in the discussion—that the additional materials (trusses, studs, foundation) for that bay would be modest compared with future costs. S3 gave ballpark figures during the discussion (references included an estimate “about $180,000” for a fuller build and that adding 12 feet could cost “$5,000 more or less”), but the group did not approve any contract or exact price in the meeting and participants agreed these were rough ballpark numbers.

The board concluded by agreeing to gather staff input and hold public outreach before finalizing the plan. S1 asked S3 to produce refined sketches and working drawings and to provide cost estimates the board can present to voters if needed. No formal vote was taken; the direction was to return with revised drawings and cost figures and to present options to the public and voters for a final decision.

Next steps: staff and board will meet to collect functional needs, S3 will prepare working drawings and a cost estimate, and the town will schedule public input sessions before deciding whether to place the addition before voters.