The Seymour Board of Selectmen has approved spending $24,000 to hire a professional consultant to help the town’s Building Review Committee figure out what to do with four town buildings.
As the town closes one of its elementary schools and reviews increasing energy costs at other under-used town buildings, a committee of 12 volunteers has been reviewing four town properties.
The goal: find out if there are ways Seymour can save money by selling buildings, or using the space in more efficient ways.
The four buildings up for review:
- 1 First St., the town hall building, where most town government offices are located
- 20 Pine St., the town’s community center, where the senior center and recreation departments are housed
- 29 Maple St., Anna LoPresti School, which the town is closing to combine with Chatfield School
- 98 Bank St., a town-owned property that houses the Board of Education offices and leases space to the Naugatuck Valley Health District
Paul Wetowitz, Seymour’s Fire Marshal and the chairman of the Building Review Committee, asked the Board of Selectmen Tuesday to hire a consultant to help the committee in its task.
His request can be viewed at about 42 minutes into this video, posted by resident Frank Loda.
“We’ve had five meetings so far, and we’ve toured all the buildings,” Wetowitz said. “We’ve discussed the pros, cons, possibilities, etc., and we came to realize that we need some outside professional help.”
The Board of Selectmen Tuesday voted to transfer $14,000 from the town’s contingency fund, and $10,000 from the town’s electricity fund, to hire a consultant.
The transfers must now be approved by the Seymour Board of Finance before the town can search for a consultant.
“This is important,” Wetowitz said. “Without this information, the committee strongly feels we’re not going to be able to make good recommendations. Or the recommendations we make would be made without good information.”
Miller said paying for the consulting firm to help with the review might be an upfront cost that can save the town money down the road.
The professional firm can help evaluate how to more efficiently use town space.
For example, the Community Center — with about four employees — currently costs more for electricity each month than the entire town hall, Miller said.
The town pays about $6,000 to $7,000 a month to heat the Community Center, and about $1,500 a month in electricity costs, he said.
“If we’re going to move forward and do so in a professional way, I think we need to get outside help,” Miller said.
