SHELBURNE — Special town meeting voters gave approval for the Selectboard to buy the former Notion to Quilt building for $350,000, and to spend up to $100,000 converting it into a police station.
The article authorizes the Selectboard to take out a 10-year loan for the mortgage, which would cost the town about $35,000 per year plus interest.
The additional $100,000 for renovations would pay for a new furnace for the building, security doors, electrical upgrades, minor roof repair, furnishings and two handicap accessible bathrooms. However, town officials believe there is potential for grants to offset part or most of those renovation costs. But the town has to own the building before it can apply for such grant money.
The $100,000 is to come from the town’s Housing Trust I account, which has a $200,000 balance. This money comes from repaid home-improvement loans made available to low-income homeowners through the town’s Community Development Block Grants. The loans are repaid whenever the homes are sold, and the money reverts to the town for more community development projects.
There was much discussion about how to give the Police Department more space without buying a building. Some residents asked why Buckland and Shelburne don’t pool their resources, since both towns’ departments provide coverage for either town, through mutual aid.
Selectboard Chairman Robert Manners said the town explored having the Shelburne Police Department housed downstairs in the Buckland Police Department building on Conway Street, about six or seven years ago, before dropping the idea.
To merge them into one department, he said, “We would basically have to dismantle two well-functioning police departments. We do effectively have good working relationships through mutual aid. The departments work extremely well together. Breaking them apart and putting two together is daunting,” he said.
Selectman Andrew Baker said he opposed the buying of private property for a police station because he believed other options need to be more fully explored first – including whether the basement of the town-owned Cowell Gym could be made into a police station. The basement of the gymnasium has recurring mold problems, despite a major mold remediation cleanup several years ago.
Baker said the Selectboard, police and Finance Committee were pursuing the issue with urgency because the building is for sale now.
He added that spending up to $500,000 to purchase and renovate the building at 623 Mohawk Trail may seem like the most economic solution – but does not factor in lost tax revenues for that property. “Consider the tax expenditure of taking the building off the tax roles for 50 years,” he said. “The tax loss is about a half-million dollars in 50 years.”
“There is not a police officer I have met that thinks the Cowell is a suitable place for them,” countered Susan Flaccus. “I also trust the Finance Committee; they have never spent my money unwisely.”
Voters also approved accepting state provisions that would allow the town to charge a 3 percent tax on any future retail sales of marijuana.
They also agreed to spent $3,388 to add the services of a regional health agent to services the town currently gets from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments’s cooperative health service program.