WHATELY – As the town continues mulling the future of the Whately Center School, the Selectboard is moving toward a request for proposals as it tries to find a tenant to repurpose the vacant building.
After receiving several ideas in the fall from its request for information, the Selectboard and Town Administrator Brian Domina indicated last week they are leaning toward a long-term lease option for the building.
“I think that’s the scenario the board favors,” Domina said by phone. “We’re going to keep an open mind and see what proposals are received.”
At the moment, the two ideal proposals the town received were for an alternative or self-directed learning center and a multi-use proposal featuring a daycare, offices and apartments. Domina noted the request for information is “not a prerequisite” for bidders submitting proposals.
The school, which was built in 1910 and has been vacant since September 2018, is “dated” and will need some maintenance or repair work before being used.
“(The mechanical systems) function, but they’re dated,” Domina said. “They’re working, but probably not as efficient as it should be.”
The building’s finished area consists of 4,048 square feet. All its mechanical systems, such as heat and wiring, need to be replaced, according to the Center School Visioning Committee’s report. Other issues include inadequate insulation and that the building is not accessible to people with disabilities. While both the water and heat are turned off, the town spends $4,400 per year to maintain the building’s insurance and electricity, according to a March 2020 report issued by the town’s Center School Visioning Committee.
If the town is able to secure a long-term lease, then the tenants would be responsible for maintaining these systems, which Selectboard member Joyce Palmer-Fortune said is the “more appealing” option for the town both financially and in terms of taking the load off of other town personnel.
“You have your hands full, Hannah (Davis, the community development administrator,) has her hands full and you don’t see Amy (Lavallee, the administrative assistant) twiddling her thumbs,” Palmer-Fortune told Domina at the Selectboard’s Feb. 9 meeting. “I don’t think we have the bandwidth.”
Domina said the request for proposals process is going to have to wait as the town works through the town budget over the next couple months. The town may also need to seek an updated assessment or appraisal before seeking bids.
“I would suspect (the RFP would go out) after our budget season,” Domina said, “I would guess probably in April.”
If the town is unable to find tenants to lease the building, Domina said the town would pick one of two options: retain the building and its associated costs or sell it. That situation, however, has yet to be discussed as it is still early in the process.