Town Hall improvements planned

AMENIA — The Town Board unanimously approved a bid for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements and window replacements for the Town Hall Improvement Project at its meeting on Thursday, Sept. 6.

Beginning at 7 p.m., all members were in attendance, including Attorney to the Town Scott Volkman. 

As she introduced the bid for window replacements, town Supervisor Victoria Perotti said the original bid on the Town Hall Improvement Project was higher than the board expected. The project originally went out to bid in August; only one bid was received on Monday, Aug. 13, from Trademark Custom Building and Woodworking.

After reviewing the bid with town engineer, Crawford & Associates Engineering, PC, she said they decided not to replace all the windows that were initially included in the project. The window replacement reduction brought the project from 54 windows to 37.

The windows are to be replaced in Town Hall offices, including the Town Board meeting room, the  courtroom, the assessor’s office, the Building Department’s office, the town clerk’s office and the court clerk’s office. 

Windows in the downstairs art room, the boiler room and the recreation room will not be replaced, nor will windows in the kitchen at this time.

The bid was significantly reduced from the original total of $105,000 to $71,650. Perotti said the bid was concentrated on offices that will remain occupied and that the board can make adjustments to the bid in terms of the work to be completed. She added that the contractor at Trademark Custom Building has been responsible for other ADA grant work in other Dutchess County towns.

The ADA improvements include making all bathrooms ADA compliant, making the front door ADA compliant, making the ramp outside the gymnasium and its railing ADA compliant, widening the door by the gymnasium to bring it up to ADA standards and installing a wheelchair lift on one side of the ramp by the gymnasium.

When Councilwoman Vicki Doyle asked if the board was on a deadline to get both projects underway and finished, Perotti confirmed deadline set for Wednesday, Oct. 31, though an extension is possible.

“What we want to do tonight is accept the bids with the new amounts, so we can get it submitted in a timely manner,” the town supervisor said.

The board decided to award the bid for the Town Hall Improvement Project to Trademark Custom Building and Woodworking for a cost not to exceed $159,400. This amount includes a total ADA contract amount of $19,750 and a total window replacement cost of $71,650.