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Town building supervisor details electrical, septic and roofing problems; board told to prioritize repairs
Summary
Ray Ellis, the town's building supervisor, presented a multi-page maintenance list citing voltage fluctuations that damaged UPS units, a long-running septic line issue, frozen roof drains, ceiling-tile defects and failing HVAC units; the board discussed budgets and in-house versus contracted repairs and asked staff to prioritize needs for the budget cycle.
Ray Ellis, the town'9s building supervisor, presented a three-page list of maintenance and safety issues affecting municipal buildings and urged the board to prioritize repairs before budget season. He reported electrical fluctuations at the George B. White building that a volunteer electrician logged with momentary readings up to about 300 volts and said the town had lost battery backups; "It's not good. It needs to be taken care of and taken care of immediately or you're going to start losing all the rest of your computers," Ellis recounted the volunteer as saying.
Ellis described a septic-pipe problem dating to 2022 that requires an engineered plan to route plumbing to a nearby 10,000-gallon tank and anti-siphon chamber, and urged the board to decide whether to bid the repair or attempt an in-house fix. He also detailed recurring freeze-and-backup problems with a roof drain that sent ice into the building last winter, suggesting a large catch basin and noting underground septic lines complicate some routing options.
Inspectors from the fire marshal'9s office conducted a walk-through and will issue a written report; Ellis said it will be used for budget planning. He listed other needs: torn screens at field buildings, cracked parking-lot paving and a sinkhole near "Charlie'9s," rot at town-hall door sills, failing furnaces (quotes ranged around $7,000—15,000), and an $8,600 estimate to replace an air conditioner in a Parks and Rec room.
Board members pressed for cost estimates and suggested separating items that can be handled in-house from those that require contracting. They discussed the potential to apply for grant funding for some municipal building work and the importance of prioritizing safety items such as failing heating systems and ceiling tiles that affect fire separation.
Next steps: staff will gather cost estimates, identify items that can be completed in-house, and use the fire marshal's written report to inform prioritization during the budget process.
