43
Niles safety service center repair costs estimated at $725,000
BY Jordan Cohen
NILES
Repairs to the city’s safety service center, essential for keeping the building from deteriorating further, will cost $725,000 according to an architect’s estimate released Thursday.
“Repairs to the foundation and the roof are critical to preserve the building,” wrote Architect Bruce Sekanick in his report to Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia. His analysis examined cracking of concrete masonry and bricks, signs of failing plumbing piping and numerous leaks in “the roof that has outlived its useful life.”
On the positive side, the architect said the nearly 28,000-square-foot facility is “repairable and with necessary repairs can serve the city for many more decades.”
On Wednesday, Sekanick told city council that despite all of these issues, the 40-year old building is “safe.”
Scarnecchia acknowledged the need for repairs, but said he does not know at this point how to finance them.
“Show me the money,” he told The Vindicator. Niles has been in state-declared fiscal emergency since October 2014.
“There are going to have to be some long range goals for us,” the mayor said.
Sekanick is evaluating 14 city buildings and for that reason recommends the city take no action other than temporary repairs until he completes his report on all of them. One example he recommends is removal of some bricks from a rear window area to “reduce the potential for injury from falling debris.” Two of the 14 buildings – the fire station on Niles-Cortland Road and a water department facility – are most in need of repairs that will cost $90,000, he wrote.
The state of disrepair of the latter came as no surprise to the mayor. “The water department is deplorable,” Scarnecchia said. “It’s a lot (but) we have to address it and see if we can financially do something.”
Construction of a new safety service center to replace the current one may not be an option for a city struggling with fiscal emergency. Sekanick’s report projects the costs of a new facility at $6.9 million and probably higher depending on design fees and development costs. An option the architect has suggested to council is consolidating some of the city’s 14 buildings.
Linda Marchese, D-3rd, said she was surprised at the extent and cost of repairs, but has other questions she hopes to have answered when council holds a roundtable next Wednesday to discuss Sekanick’s report.
“I want to know more about the conditions of the walls,” she said.
Councilman Steve Papalas, D-at large, when informed of the estimated $725,000 cost for repairs, said: “Like a doctor, perhaps we need to get a second opinion.”