Board OKs creation of committee to assess town buildings

Board OKs creation of committee to assess town buildings

Kerry O'Brien
News Staff Writer


TEMPLETON — Seeking to address issues surrounding the management of town-owned facilities, the Board of Selectmen on Monday voted to create a five-member Municipal Building Assessment Committee to develop more definitive plans for the buildings in question.

“I think it’s about time,” said Selectman Julie Farrell. “We have a number of buildings we’ve had different issues with, and we’ve been so sidetracked by moving from crisis to crisis that we haven’t been able to make a plan ... I think it’s time that we do.”


Several properties that have come before the selectmen for discussion could be evaluated in a more in-depth manner by the new committee, said board Chairman Jeffrey Bennett.

“There are a number of buildings that need to be looked at and decided on,” he said. “This may be a good way to deal with that.”

Ahead of the decision to form the committee, the selectmen were continuing a discussion about what to do with the East Templeton Elementary School building, which the Narragansett Regional School District closed in 2011.

While some residents are petitioning to dispose of the school, the Advisory Board is planning to propose a restoration of the facility — using either Community Preservation Act funding or performance contracting — to voters later this fall.

The town’s municipal offices have also been the subject of ongoing discussion.

Over the summer, the selectmen voted to extend the lease for office space at 690 Patriots Road. The building’s owner, however, has indicated this will be the final year of the arrangement under the current terms, and plans to seek an increase in rent from $52,000 to $80,000.

The fate of the 252 Baldwinville Road property — which the town purchased for use as a town hall before the project was found to be unfeasible financially — is also unclear. The property is currently up for sale, although a group of citizens supportive of continuing the town hall project is developing an alternative proposal.

The town also recently received an offer for a gift of two 28-by-60-foot portable classrooms that could be used by the Police Department or Cemetery Department, according to town officials

At their next meeting Oct. 17, the selectmen plan to appoint two members of their board, a member of the Capital Planning Committee, a member of the Planning Board and a citizen at large to serve as the municipal building assessment committee through June 30, 2014.