Homer Town Hall Renovation Requires Additional $100,000

Lily Byrne, X101 News:

The Homer Town Board voted Wednesday night to approve an additional $100,000 project contingency for the renovation of the lower level of Homer Town Hall.

While $1.3 million was initially approved, current contracts bring the cost closer to $1.4 million. The full $100,000 may not be used, Town Supervisor Michael Park said.

“I hate to do it, but I have to throw our engineers and our architects under the bus,” Park said. “They left out so much stuff that we had to pick up… It just blew my mind, some of the stuff that got missed.”

Additional costs were needed for new gas lines for the generator, Builder’s Risk insurance, fire alarm systems and engineering on a crack in the wall,

“Our architect is a preservation architect,” Park said. “His thought was we were going to use every old door in the building, and reuse it, and the trimmings, and the wainscoting. All of it was rotting at the bottom. He never thought about insulating the concrete walls. I said, ‘we’ve got one shot at this for the next 25-50 years, we are insulating these walls.’”

Overall, the renovation is going very well, Park said. The sheetrock is laid, and the plumbing and heating has been switched.

“It’s looking phenomenal,” he said. “We’re getting there, but we’ve got a ways to go.”

It is anticipated to be completed by April 1. An Open House will be held upon completion.

After a Public Hearing, the Town of Homer annexed 25 acres of land on Wolf Road from the Village of Homer.

Town Supervisor Michael Park clarified that the annexation would have no effect on the quality of the community on the property, its traffic, water supply, energy use or natural resources.

“We have reviewed, and have no issue with the proposed annexation,” Mayor Pat Clune said.

Also at the meeting, Matt Sweeney was appointed to the Homer Planning Board, replacing Bruce Crandall. Crandall has been in Tennessee, and unable to make the majority of meetings. Crandall understood the replacement, Park said.

Sweeeney lived on Mcdonald Road, is the operating manager of FML Industries, Inc., and grew up on a dairy farm, Park said.

“In my opinion, that’s the perfect kind of person you would want on the Planning Board,” Park said. “He understands agriculture; we are an agricultural town. He also understands business. He has a local business right here in the village, so that’s a very good candidate.”