TOWN OF LYME
Town Offices Building Committee
December 18, 2006
MINUTES
Present: Chair Peter Bleyler, Administrative Assistant Carole Bont, Frank Bowles, Don Metz, Tish Smith, Jane Fant, Patricia G. Jenks (arrived later – doing tax collector duties) Selectman Dick Jones, Tony Pippin, Sr., and Selectman Judith Lee Shelnutt Brotman.
Absent: Michael Woodard (his back went out), Freda Swan (on vacation), and Tom Hunton.
1. Peter A. Bleyler opened the meeting at 11:32 AM. Peter asked whether Michael Woodard was coming and whether Michael had anything to report about the status of the Alden Inn. Don Metz reported that Michael Woodard’s back went out and he was unable to move. However, Michael had reported to Don Metz about what needed to be done.
2. Dick Jones moved to approve the minutes for December 11th, with recommended minor changes. Frank Bowles seconded. The committee voted unanimously to approve. Dick moved to wait until our next meeting to approve the nonpublic minutes as he had just received his copy of the nonpublic minutes in the mail this morning and had not had a chance to review them. The committee members agreed. They will be reviewed at our next meeting on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 11:30 AM.
3. Don Metz reported that Michael Woodard and the mortgagee for the Alden Inn had been communicating back and forth a few times. He still has no definitive answers or numbers from the mortgagee. He has spoken to two Lyme citizens willing to step up and purchase the property if the price is right as interim holders of the note (like Mike Smith did for the Chaffee House).
4. Dick Jones reported that the Conservation Commission made a site visit to the Upper Valley Land Trust land to check out the wetland area. There is a spot near the southwest corner of the property to put a trail head. We would need to build something over the drainage area to access the trails, but it would be in a spot farthest away from where the building would be. The trail head would have a minimal impact on the actual building site. Most members of the conservation commission were enthusiastic about the trails and the placement of offices there. He thought that we could get support from them for the site.
5. Judy Brotman asked whether if we moved on the Alden Inn it would be possible to move the town offices and the police offices into the building as soon as possible. The committee had not made any earlier comments about this. Voicing her concern about the problems with the present air quality in both the police station and the town offices, Judy Brotman suggested moving the town offices into the Inn should it become available. She wonders if that would resolve the bad air situation in both the police station and the town offices and at the same time a temporary setup in the Alden Inn would show us whether or not the building could function as a
town office effectively.
6. Dick Jones commented that if we chose to go the route of the Alden Inn that obviously, some major compromises would have to be made. There are security issues, traffic flow problems, problems with renovating a space while at the same time occupying the space. It would cost a lot more money to renovate while occupying the space as the process would be much more complex. It would involve putting some kind of hall down the middle. It would also involve sealing off the construction areas. Don Metz felt that you could handle that easily enough with plastic and duct tape. Dick Jones opined that you could put all of the employees
in the front room, crammed together for the short time together while the construction was going on.
7. Don Metz asked about whether it might make more sense to rent out Earl Strout’s space while renovating space at the Lyme Inn, if that came to pass. Frank Bowles suggested that that would involve building a building within a building and did not think that would be cost effective.
8. Jane Fant asked whether we should be talking about a time table. Don Metz suggested that we were at the mercy of the mortgage company. Supposedly the packet from the mortgage company is in the mail.
9. Peter Bleyler asked whether anything had changed over the last few weeks with regard to the health conditions down at the Selectmen’s office or the police station to make things more urgent.
10. Carole Bont reported about the concern expressed by the State of New Hampshire’s Indoor Air Quality Department that the ozone machine presently being used is an irritant for lung tissue and is a bad idea for using as an air filter. She explained the air filter system the town is presently using on a trial basis in both the police station and the town offices. She explained that turning off the ozone machine was causing the people in the offices with allergies to suffer anew from their allergy symptoms. The trial air filter system has not been able to reduce the pollution in air sufficiently to reduce the allergy symptoms.
11. Dick Jones re-expressed his concern about the ability of the Alden Inn floor to handle the load of multiple banks of filing cabinets.
12. Don Metz and Judy Brotman compared renting from Earl Strout with renting space in the Alden Inn. Earl Strout would expect to receive rent at the fair market rental price. If the “angels” purchased the Alden Inn, the rent would be nominal. No additional work would have to be done before moving into the first floor. The building has a handicapped ramp already. Concern was expressed that we did not really know the condition of the back of the building. Frank Bowles indicated a willingness to look at the back. Tony Pippin offered to get permission for looking at the inside of the building. Frank wanted to come
see the basement of the Lyme Library basement to see if he could help it in anyway. He thought there might be some way to relieve the air quality problem somewhat for between $3,000 - $4,000. If the town offices could not move out right away, at least there might be some relief. Bottom Line: the Inn would be a modest rent (if the “angels” purchase it) versus paying big dollars for rent at fair market value.
13. Peter Bleyler asked the committee – “What are you doing? I saw no vote.” Don Metz and Dick Jones explained that the committee was going forward with the Upper Valley Land Trust Land.
a. We know that questions will come up about the Alden Inn and if we do not look at the options we will not be able answer those questions and will not know if it would have been a better option. If we can get the Alden Inn at a reasonable and reduced price, then we should consider it an option. The bottom line for the Alden Inn is this: will the mortgagee sell it for a reasonable price. Is it a long term solution?
b. The third option is the school. The School Board is meeting with the Chair of the Budget Committee, and the Chair of the Board of Selectmen, to solve the dilemma about the school library, town library, school librarian and town librarian. Any solution that would involve putting the town library in the school and leaving the town offices in the present library would involve some significant and possibly insurmountable problems. The parking problem is perceived to be insurmountable. There is not enough square footage on the property for parking as it is now. There would be no political support for using the either the little or big
common for this purpose. There would be no support for tearing down a house on the common and using such a lot for parking. Furthermore, putting the town offices in the library would only be a short term solution. Soon we would need to expand into the basement and there we go with the air quality issues again.
14. Tish Smith expressed her concern that we find something to do with the rooms upstairs at the Alden Inn. It has too much space. Michael Woodard had suggested that we make the upstairs rooms into condos or elderly housing. Tish Smith did not think that the town should be in the business of running senior housing or selling or maintaining condos. Judy Brotman expressed her opinion that what we do with the upstairs should not be detrimental – keep it open for later possible expansion.
15. Don Metz expressed his opinion that none of the solutions are perfect and that the better solution should not be an enemy of the best solution. He pointed out that the Alden Inn is a landmark building. There would be plenty of parking. It is on the common where most of the townspeople who attend the public meetings seem to prefer. It needs a cistern for water for a sprinkler system. How much would that be? A sprinkler system costs about $2 per square foot for the sprinkling system and another $40,000 to put in the pumping and hydrant. The cistern could also serve the Lyme Congregational Church in the event of a fire which
would be to the community good. One way to tackle the problem would be to demolish the rear of building and put a cistern in the basement of the new area and the vault over the top of it.
16. Jane Fant expressed her enthusiasm for the Alden Inn as what is in her opinion the “best solution.”
17. Peter Bleyler pointed out that if we took over the Alden Inn that in addition to the costs of the place and the renovations, the Town would be losing $18,000 per year in property taxes. He expressed his opinion that there could be a thriving business there. The problem with the Alden Inn as he sees it is that there are too many square feet of unusable space. It could be very successful, however, you might have to do something like the Rockerfellers did with the Woodstock Inn, which was to tear down a significant portion of it and rebuild it. The owners of the Dowd Inn said that did not lose money on the rooms at the Alden Inn, but rather
they lost money on the restaurant.
18. Further lengthy discussion was had about the pros and cons of considering turning the Alden Inn into town offices and looking at it in a broader community context.
a. We discussed the viability of running a successful inn and restaurant at the Alden Inn. Comments were made about the success of the Norwich Inn. Someone mentioned that the success of the Inn was due in part to its location near a crossroads (near the intersection of I-91 and I-89) within a nexus of lots of traffic. Lyme is not like Norwich in that way.
b. We discussed the cost of maintaining the Alden Inn. At some point the Godoys had an informal with the Planning Board and they heard that the cost of heating the Alden Inn was staggering: $2,800 per month in heating bills alone. Comments were made about how the time for running a successful romantic inn in a small town is a venture whose time may be past. The job requires the owner to be on duty 24 hours per day. The job of running an upscale restaurant is difficult in a small town because you still need to depend on the local traffic to make ends meet, by offering low cost alternatives.
c. We discussed the cost to renovate the Alden Inn. The cost to renovate the Alden Inn may be much too high to contemplate for an entrepreneur starting out fresh.
d. We discussed the possible responsibility of the Town to do some social engineering. Comments were also made about how perhaps the town should take on the social responsibility of renovating the building to use for town offices because the alternatives might not be acceptable. For example, although the front of Inn is beautiful and historic and a landmark, the building is very old, has some additions of questionable quality and as such is clearly deteriorating. It could be turned into a multi-family dwelling. Someone might buy it, not realize how much money would be needed to renovate it, and turn out not be able to afford to complete
the renovations to turn it into a multi-family and then it would become an eyesore. Because it is an old building, despite renovations the building would still require a significant amount of money just to maintain and operate.
e. Discussion resumed about the high cost of upkeep for the Alden Inn. Judith Brotman suggested that maybe the rest of the building that the Town would not use initially could be cordoned off and used later. Tish Smith pointed out that just the cost of painting the exterior of the building would be astronomical.
19. At approximately 12:00 PM, Don Metz moved to go into nonpublic session in accordance with RSA:91-A2,II(d), in consideration of the purchase, sale or lease of real property which if discussed in public would likely benefit a party or parties whose interests are adverse to those of the general community. Motion was seconded by Frank Bowles and approved unanimously by roll call vote.
20. Don Metz made a motion, seconded by Frank Bowles, to exit Non-Public session at 12:10 PM. Dick Jones made a motion to keep the minutes of Non-Public Session sealed under RSA 91-A:3,II(d) as divulgence of the information would likely render the proposed action ineffective. Voted in the affirmative by roll call vote.
21. Don Metz made a motion to adjourn at 12:17 PM. Dick Jones seconded. Vote was unanimous. The next meeting will be after the holidays, Wednesday, January 3, 2007, at 11:30 AM in the Lyme Fire Station Training Room. Hopefully, Michael Woodard will be able to attend and report further on his discussions with the mortgagee of the Alden Inn.
Carole Bont
Recorder
| 
