By Brian Biggane
Acknowledging that its Town Hall has been deteriorating in recent years amid anticipation of a new building to replace it, the South Palm Beach Town Council authorized Town Manager Jamie Titcomb to begin the repair and renovation process as soon as possible.
After the May 12 council meeting, however, Council member Sandy Beckett reiterated her concern that the decision not to move forward on a new structure ignores the future wants and needs of residents.
Titcomb and Town Attorney Gemma Torcivia informed the council at the start of discussion on the topic that, while only just over $487,000 can be spent on renovations without also requiring the decades-old Town Hall to undergo the costly work of coming into compliance with all existing code and construction regulations, the proposed repairs would not count against that figure.
Titcomb presented a list of 10 items that would fall under that category, with the most pressing and expensive being a new metal roof that he estimates will cost $125,000. Also on the list are turning four bathrooms into three ADA-compliant bathrooms ($60,000 to $75,000) and replacing a metal fire stairway and railings ($19,000 to $25,000).
Other needed improvements include painting both the exterior and interior; replacing carpet and tile; addressing the unused front garage “knee wall”; removing a “lean-to” on the north side of the maintenance office; replacing two fire exit doors; putting in new landscaping; and repaving the parking lot. No estimates were given for any of those projects.
Council members joined Titcomb for a walk-through of the building a week before the meeting and determined repairs need to be made — and soon.
“The bathroom looked apocalyptic, like the urinal was disgusting,” Vice Mayor Fran Attardi said. “It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in like 1,000 years. It was crazy.”
Having said that, Attardi expressed confidence the repairs and improvements can make a significant difference.
“I see the building will be beautiful. Like you said, the bones are there in this building.”
That reference was to a comment Mayor Rafael Pineiro made about the last engineering study done in 2018 that said the building had “good bones,” meaning it was structurally sound. Of course, as Beckett pointed out, that was eight years ago and whatever repairs were needed since were mostly ignored as previous councils worked toward a new building.
“Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s falling apart, but as people have said, it doesn’t meet our needs,” Beckett said. She, along with Council member Ray McMillan, were members of the previous council that had been on the verge of soliciting contractor bids before three of its members were voted out of office in March, giving Pineiro and his allies the power to change direction.
“Whether they are legitimate needs or not, our town wanted more exercise space, space where we could have different events going on at the same time,” Beckett added. “Not where you have to cancel one to have another.
“What really discourages me is that it’s almost like the previous council wasn’t working, whether anybody was paying attention. If you weren’t coming to meetings, if you didn’t look at the website, if you weren’t reading The Coastal Star and you didn’t know what was going on.”
Pineiro, who based much of his campaign for mayor on refurbishing and restoring the current building as opposed to building a new one, was the council member who made the motion and it passed 5-0.
Titcomb said he planned on getting to work on the fixes immediately but reminded the council that his financial limit to approve a contract is just $25,000, meaning he will have to wait until monthly council meetings to get most of the work approved. He also pointed out the estimate for all the improvements mentioned in the 2018 study was in the $2 million to $4 million range.
Titcomb also said he expects Mock Roos, the company contracted to build the new lift station, to present an updated status report on the project at the June 9 council meeting. He said efforts are underway to secure help from both national and local government agencies to help defray the estimated $4 million to $5 million cost.
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