CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The bids for repairing the pavilion at Cooke Memorial Town Field came in close to what town meeting has approved for the project. 

 

"I think this is in the ball park for us," said  Commissioner Edward Denault  after the bids were opened by the Recreation Committee on Wednesday night.

 

Town Administrator Carl McKinney agreed, "It's more than $3,000 over but that's not a bad place to be, actually."

 

The annual town meeting last May approved the use of up to $65,000 in free cash toward the project. The pavilion's concrete pad has buckled and broken up to the point town officials feel it is too dangerous to use; the roof on the structure is now leaking as well. 

 

"The building is unusable because of the slab," McKinney said. Last year, the town put up caution tape around the structure, a popular spot for community and private events. "In prioritizing where we want to go, this does actually meet what we need at minimum. 

 

There were two bids opened on Wednesday, one for the roof of the structure and the other for the foundation and grading. 

 

J.D. Rivet & Co. of Springfield offered two options: $63,000 for a seamless metal roof and $29,000 for a 30-year asphalt roof. Both bids included underlayment and ice and water barrier, replacing 100 square feet of rotten plywood decking and disposal of the current shingles.

 

A1 Inc. bid two phases: $19,950 to excavate and dispose of the 1,800 square feet concrete pad, grading and installation of a trench drain, and $19,806 for 6 inches of compacted gravel over the current subgrade, paving of the 30 by 60 foot area, and loam and seed for the impacted areas. 

 

The committee calculated if they accepted both A1's bids and Rivet's for the asphalt roof, the full cost would be $68,756, almost $4,000 over the allocated funds. 

 

"I'm going to have to see if there's any wiggle room in our budget that we have for the recreation field," said McKinney. "We know that we put some money into the recreation field budget last year. It's usually $1,800."

 

Commissioner Todd Andrews did question the lack of any contingency planning, noting the 100 square feet of plywood was about four sheets. "If it's five sheets, what happens?" he asked. 

 

McKinney recommended taking the bids under advisement until he could look through the budget and then meet again next week. Andrews wondered if A1, a Clarksburg company, might be flexible.

 

The commissioners also discussed flooding, a large tree that needed to be removed and replacement of bleachers at the field. McKinney said the tree removal would likely be under $10,000 so he could use best practices to get three quotes rather than putting it out to bid. 

 

Denault said the pavilion should be the priority and McKinney said the bleachers could set aside for another day. Andrews wondered if they could refit the current ones to code. 

 

Commissioner Robert Norcross was concerned with the wetness and flooding in the field that is making parts of it unusable. It used to drain out toward Middle Road and Lincoln Drive and into Hudson Brook but over the years the trenches have filled in. He asked if it could be taken up with the town's hazard mitigation planning. 

 

"That's important, that whole area being able to drain properly into Hudson Brook," he said. 

 

McKinney said he understand the concerns but that getting into it could open up a whole raft of issues with the state and Conservation Commission. 

 

The commissioners also discussed raising fees for the use of the field and McKinney said they could ask town meeting to allocate all or a portion of the fees as a dedicated revenue stream for improvements at the field. 

 

"This town is ready, so ready, for anything good to happen that if we needed another $10,000 and we had to go to town meeting to get it, I don't see any kind of a problem whatsoever," said Denault.