EMERSON—After questions over a redacted invoice on the proposed elevator project at the firehouse, the Borough Council voted, 4-0, on Jan. 16 to authorize its architect to prepare bid specs and advertise for bids on the long-awaited project.
Voting for the project were Nicole Argenzia. Ashley Rice, Council President Michael Timmerman, and Kelly Moore. Absent were councilors Brian Gordon and Jill McGuire.
Resident Kate Stutzel questioned why a $47,500 proposal from Settembrino Architects was redacted after she requested and received it following a December request submitted under the state’s Open Public Records Act, or OPRA. Stutzel accused the council of not being transparent by redacting the architect’s invoice.
The proposal was approved at council’s Dec. 19 meeting under the consent agenda, and the not to exceed $47,500 invoice included professional design, bidding, and construction management of the elevator and lobby addition, stated the resolution.
Earlier in the meeting, the council voted 4-0 to appoint Settembrino Architects as its borough architect through Dec. 31, 2024.
Stutzel questioned why the Settembrino invoice was redacted, claiming under the Open Public Records Act that bills and invoices are public records. However, administrator Rob Hermansen said that so far the borough had not received any bills submitted by Settembrino on the project.
Borough Attorney John McCann said that the $47,500 Settembrino proposal was still considered a deliberative document and that when architect bills were submitted and approved by council, they would become disclosable public records.
An attorney representing Stutzel, Wilfredo Ortiz, then argued with McCann over whether invoices were public records and should be publicly available under the law.
McCann said he was free to challenge his interpretation of the OPRA law but that McCann would not publicly debate the matter with Ortiz.
Former councilman Tom Brown also questioned why he did not receive a reply to an OPRA request for a bills list, which he said included paid bills. He noted no bills lists were available on the borough website, and asked if they could be shared or posted online.
We reached out to the attorney for comment.
Prior to Stutzel and Ortiz’s comments, Hermansen said that the borough was awarded a $199,000 Community Development Block Grant from its unfunded projects fund. The borough had originally requested $250,000 for the elevator project. He said this should help offset the majority of the elevator project cost.
Borough engineer David Atkinson said they have a current estimated cost for future project bids but if bids come in significantly over that, the council can reject the bids and re-bid the project if they wish to.
Hermansen said the elevator project could solve multiple problems, including making the second floor more accessible for older firefighters and ladies’ auxiliary members not able to walk up stairs and provide a polling place to take the place of a current school polling site which will enhance school security and children’s safety.
Atkinson said the bid specs should be advertised and available for at least 10 days for potential contractors to get them and prepare a project bid. He said county officials managing the CDBG unfunded projects fund are looking for the elevator project to “be at a substantial point” by this April 15.
Hermansen said county officials were looking for towns that take unfunded project funds to use the funds for their proposed projects as they do not want to send these funds back to the federal government.
Hermansen said soft costs on the project, including architectural and engineering fees are not covered under the $199,000 grant.
He said the project includes a new entryway or breezeway, noting the firehouse’s front entrance will be bumped out about 13 feet, with two doors on side, allowing visitors easy access to the elevator or stairs.