AMHERST — A plan for relocating all Department of Public Works personnel from the main headquarters at 586 South Pleasant St. will be due to the Town Council by the end of June, with the expectation that all employees move to temporary workplaces by Oct. 1.
Prioritizing the health and well-being of the town workers, Town Council on Monday voted unanimously to recommend that Town Manager Paul Bockelman present a relocation plan by June 29. The motion requires cost estimates, identifying funding sources and progress reports, while ensuring the DPW can offer direct input.
The effort to fast-track the DPW’s move from an aging converted trolley barn was promoted by District 2 Councilor Amber Cano-Martin, who said employees in recent weeks have described a building that is unsafe for continued occupancy based on what she termed “documented structural deficiencies, hazardous conditions and code violations.”
“I do believe that moving the staff out of the building is extremely necessary to do as quickly as possible to prevent injury, (prevent) illness, reduce our legal liability as a town, and to make sure we can continue to provide town services as they need to be provided,” Cano-Martin said.
Cano-Martin brought forward a motion that would have had the relocation plan due by May 4, with half of the department’s personnel moved to a suitable temporary site by Aug 1, and all of the department’s workers moved to a suitable temporary site by Oct. 1.
She also asked that there be input from employees, so as to prevent any relocation putting them in a worse situation than already exists.
The town already has a DPW Building Committee that is starting the process for getting a new headquarters built on the current site, with it likely the department will have to use temporary sites around town as a new building is constructed. One site is likely to be the Ruxton site off Pulpit Hill Road.
District 3 Councilor George Ryan said his only concern with Cano-Martin’s motion was the timeframe, noting that 30 days might be inadequate to make this happen.
Similarly, District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen said a staged plan for moving people out is needed, but a month may not be enough time and councilors need to ask for something reasonable.
“I don’t think there’s any way we’ll have a plan within 30 days,” Schoen said.
District 4 Councilor Pam Rooney, who serves on the Building Committee, said members are already looking to identify so-called swing space.
“I’m a strong believer we need to get people out of the building as quickly as we can, and keeping the feet to the fire for the committee,” Rooney said.
Rooney said she doesn’t want to have the workers move two or three times during the project.
Bockelman said getting many of the workers out of the building might be possible for those who are in their trucks most of the day, but will be harder for the office-based staff. He wasn’t sure whether setting any percentages for how many employees need to move, and when, would be a good idea.
“The percentages and timing is a challenge if we don’t have space that is readily occupiable,” Bockelman said, noting that he would have to procure the space, probably outside of Amherst.
And even sites in town will be a challenge. The vacant North Amherst School doesn’t have sufficient adult-size bathrooms or Wi-Fi, and the soon-to-be vacant Wildwood School is still being used by the schools.
DPW Superintendent Guilford Mooring said the department is excited and grateful that Town Council is making the building an issue. But he is also cautious.
“We are quite concerned about being moved someplace that is just moved to another spot that’s just a little better than where we were, and being stuck there,” Mooring said.
He said there isn’t a single building in Amherst that could be used as a building maintenance facility.
District 4 Councilor Jennifer Taub said the DPW can’t be kept in the current facility for much longer.
“Staying where they are for two or three years in an unhealthy building doesn’t seem feasible, or the right thing to do,” Taub said.
District 1 Councilor Jill Brevik said there are significant legal risks and health risks, and a deadline is appropriate for action.
“I do think it would be helpful for something definite to help us frame our decision-making and ground us in facts,” Brevik said.
A plan for moving out that is financially feasible is critical, said District 2 Councilor Lynn Griesemer.
“So what is the best and most reasonable way to move this staff and to vacate the property so that we can move forward with building on that property, which we’re going to have to do,” Griesemer said. “We have to vacate it to build on it.”
