Who's Fooling Who?

Who's trying to pull the wool over the Electors eyes?

Was just looking at a tax bill for real estate taxes for a piece of property in the Town of St. Germain.

Here's a typical one:

Land Assessed Value                        $150,000
Improved Assessed Value                 $  72,000
Fair Market Value                               $204,000

State Tax                                            $ 0
Vilas County Tax                                $ 479.37
Town of St. Germain  Tax                   $ 292.71    ----------} This is the Town Real Estate TAX
Northland Pines School DIstrict         $ 1237.81

The Town is saying that if they borrow $4 Million Dollars it will only cost $58.00 per one hundred thousand dollars assessed valuation over 15 years.

Look above for the reality. This home will pay $118.30 per year over fifteen years. 

However: The town tax rate is $292.71 per year on this particular piece of property, which will now be increased to $411.10 per year or a 40% TOWN TAX INCREASE!

That's quite a jump for funding someones folly with our money!

I urge you to VOTE NO to any new building when we can live with what we have for many years to come. 

What Makes Economic Sense?

The 1941 Historic Red Brick School House

in 

St. Germain Wisconsin 54558

This is what the original Red Brick School House used to look like. A Colonial front with seven foot high six pane glass doors, a half circle glass paned oculus all gracefully standing between two twelve pane glass windows.  

The interior class rooms were filled with the outside light from five thirty-two glass paned windows on each side of the building. Built by volunteers just before World War Two. 

However, due to some ill advised town school board members, in order to save on energy consumption, those beautiful windows and front facade have been bricked up, and covered with mismatched brickwork making the new look hideous. 

Then in 1965 as the Town of St. Germain outgrew this period two room structure the school board made another decision, and that was to add a new addition onto the back of the 1941 portion of the building to add more classrooms. However, the town kept growing still and the school was still too small so the school board decided to abandon that building and built a new school about a quarter mile away. 

And what happened to the 1941 school? 

The Town of St. Germain decided to use the school as the town offices. This lasted until the Town built a new community center. Then they moved the town offices over there and left the 1941 portion and the 1965 addition to the Red Brick School House to rot and decay. 

However, there were many people of the town who did not want to see that happen. They raised money to have things repaired, and kept the building in pretty good shape. The town did place a new roof onto the 1941 portion of the structure, after much prodding by the town folks. But back in 2004 or so, the Town Board decided it was too costly to heat the whole building, that was not used, and they severed all of the heat from the 1965 addition portion of the building. 

When the heating system needed replacing, the supporters of keeping the school intact paid for and had the heating system replaced with a new boiler. And many, many efforts have been tried, with much failure, to restore the building to its originality by the people, and the Town Board was having none of it. 

So why is it still here? It is here because according to the Laws of the State of Wisconsin, in Chapter 60.10, real property can only be disposed of with a majority of the electors of the town allow it. This is what the Town Boards have been unable to achieve year after year, i.e. getting the electors to give the Town permission to get rid of it and tear it down. 

So where are we now?

Right now there is a push to tear it down again, and also tear down the current community center and town offices. Why would we want to do that? Because there are some on the current Town Board that believe by building a brand new building, that could house the Town Offices and also contain meeting space, that they could lure outside organizations to the town and use it as a convention center. However, there is not one person currently serving on the Town Board that has ever planned or implemented anything of this nature. AND........They want to have the taxpayers pay for their folly to the tune of Four Million Dollars. A hefty sum for a town of only 2100 residents. 

According to some estimates, it would cost the taxpayers roughly $500,000.00 to completely remodel the 1941 portion of the red brick school house, and tear down the 1965 portion of the same building. 

At the same time it could cost just as much to remove the building. You cannot simply tear down the building and place the debris in a landfill due to the EPA requirements for a building containing asbestos. And any contractor hired for demolition would have to meet, and obtain the proper EPA licenses required for abatement, and this is what will drive the costs upward. 

But this information seems to escape the existing Town Board and their "consultants", as there is no mention of abatement in any of their reports. If they know about it, (hazardous materials) they are not telling the people who live here. This has been mentioned time and time again in previous engineering reports for this building.    

However, due to asbestos being in the flooring of the 1941 portion of the building in the form of vinyl asbestos tile, the cost to tear down the building completely could also be around $500,000. Now you might say, if the 1941 building were to be reused wouldn't you have to remove that asbestos tile anyway?  The answer is NO. The proper remedy is to cover any asbestos floor tile with a suitable floor covering material. This will render the danger non-exhistant, and longer a problem.   

Anyone who has ever gone to, planned, or attended any major conventions realize that the key thing is getting conventioneers to the location, and housing them. St. Germain does not have an airport, and the Eagle River, Rhinelander, Minocqua airports are too small to support any major airline with regular flights from all over the country. Additionally, convention attendees do not want to have to drive hours to get to the convention site. If they are going to have to stay overnight to attend a convention, they want to be on the premises at the actual convention location. This is impossible with a community owned facility such as is planned. 

The proposed new facility has the capability to accommodate well over three hundred guests. However there will never be enough parking to accommodate three hundred automobiles. So why does the town seem to think we need this? When all we really need are town offices, some meeting rooms for the community, and some recreation facilities such as a gym, small kitchen and workout room. After all, it is a "Community Center" not a Convention Center.

The remodeling of the existing 1941 portion of the Red Brick School House has ample space for the storage of the town records in the lower level. Fireproof filing systems are readily available and could be of the same type used in the Vilas County Clerks offices today.  The Red Brick School House building can accommodate offices for the Town Chairman, Town Treasurer, and Town Clerk, and an Administrative Assistant on a part time bases in order to allow for standard Town office hours. 

Presently if you need a building permit or other, you have to go to the Town Shop and chase down that person, if you know where the town shop even is. If you need to get something from the Town Treasurer or pay some taxes, you have to chase down that person at their home or elsewhere. If you need to talk to the Town Chairman, you have to go to their place of business. If you want to apply for some licenses or other thing that comes under the Town Clerk's duties you have to chase him down at his home or place of business.  Wouldn't it be nice to know that you would be able to get anything done at the Town offices during the posted hours. ONE STOP SHOPPING!

The 1941 portion of the Red Brick School House can accommodate all of this.

BUT THE BATHROOMS ARE NOT ADA, Handicapped people cannot get into the building, I don't like going there!

You will hear this from those folks who want the building torn down. They have NO clue as to what the requirements are for an ADA bathroom or ADA accessibility. The Town Board over the years have made statements to this affect time and time again. The have not invested one minute of time on studying the requirements to make things ADA compliant. They have relied on the misinformation of others. 

There is a plan to address all of this. It is called Option #3. It was designed by the Town Boards own consultants and it was the consultants first recommendation that the Town Board completely ignored. It proposes to tear down the 1965 portion of the building, add an ADA compliant elevator, build a new community center, have ADA compliant bathrooms accessible by both buildings. Everything that those who want a new building, and those who want to keep the old building could ask for. AND THE CONSULTANTS THAT DID THE INVESTIGATION AND THE FINAL REPORT AND FIGURED OUT THE EXPENSES, AND RECOMMENDED TO THE TOWN THAT THIS IS THEIR BEST CHOICE WAS HIRED BY THE CURRENT TOWN BOARD. 

SO WHY ARE THEY NOT LISTENING TO THEIR OWN CONSULTANTS? THE PLAN THAT MAKES EVERYONE IN THE TOWN HAPPY?

YOU TELL ME? 

WHO WILL BE THE BENEFICIARY OF THE END RESULTS BEING PROMOTED, AND RECOMMENDED BY THE CURRENT TOWN BOARD? 

WHY ARE THEY CHOOSING TO RAISE YOUR TAXES AND MISLEADING YOU INTO THINKING IT'S AN INSIGNIFICANT AMOUNT? WHEN IN FACT YOUR TOWN PORTION OF YOUR PROPERTY TAX WILL RISE UP TO 40% MORE THAN WHAT IT IS NOW.

YOU TELL ME, I DO NOT WANT MY TAXES INCREASED ONE DIME, BUT I AM IN FAVOR OF OPTION THREE!  THAT WE CAN ALL LIVE WITH!

How Will You Vote?

Voters of St. Germain

Q. Should the Town of St. Germain borrow up to $4 Million Dollars, to be amortized over 15 years, which will raise your property taxes, to construct new Town Offices and a Meeting Facility, and at the same time demolish the historical town landmark, known as the Red Brick School House and your existing Community Center?

A. NO! 

This is the question you will be asked to vote on at the next Town Electors Meeting. Are you willing to reach into your pockets and take out your hard earned money and give it to the Town?

CONSIDER THIS!

·       The current Town of St. Germain Board voted to hire a company called Funktion Design Studios. Funktion Design Studios was charged to come up with a plan that would be suitable to all interested parties in the Town regarding the existing Community Center and the Red Brick School House. 

·       Funktion Design Studios completed their investigation and they delivered to the Town Board the possibility of four viable options for the Town Electors to consider at the Annual Electors Meeting.

·       The St. Germain Town Board chose not to present ALL of these options to the voters for consideration. The Town Board will only present one of those options to the Electors at the Annual Meeting, which is Option Number Four “The Town Board's Favorite Conclusion Which is to Tear Everything Down and Rebuild All New From The Ground UP!”

·      Funktion Design Studios’ RECOMMENDATION to the Town Board was to implement/present Funktion Design Studio's Option #3. This Option included, the tearing down of the current Community Center, and the Red Brick School House's 1961 addition, and then bring the 1941 Red Brick School House building up to current building and ADA code standards, which include adding an elevator to the back of the 1941 building to make it American Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant and build a new separate meeting facility building (Community Center).

·       These two buildings would then be connected to each other via enclosed walkway. i.e. connecting the two buildings together. This option was NEVER presented to the you, the town electors, as an option for you to consider and vote on. 

      The cost for this option is at least one million dollars LESS than what the Town will present to you at the Annual Electors Meeting.

·      The proposed new facility (Option #3) would provide effective and efficient space to satisfy Town needs for many years to come. Features that would be included:

   

In the remodeled Red Brick School House Building:

1.     Dedicated Office Space for the Town Clerk, Treasurer, Town Chairman, and Town Records.

2.     Additional Meeting/Class Rooms

3.     The ability to do one stop shopping for residents for building permits, licenses, payments, and other Town business, etc.

In the NEW Community Center Building the floor plan shows:

1.     Large Meeting room.

2.     Basketball Facilities

3.     Kitchen Facilities

4.     Additional smaller meeting/class rooms

5.     Upgraded Security System for entrance and egress.

6.     Modern ADA compliant Washroom Facilities and more.

 ASK YOURSELF,  "WHY WOULD THE TOWN BOARD CHOOSE NOT TO GO WITH THE LESS EXPENSIVE OPTION RECOMMENDED BY FUNKTION DESIGN STUDIOS, THEIR OWN HIRED CONSULTANTS, AND BRING THAT FOR YOU TO VOTE ON?

VOTE NO AT THE ANNUAL TOWN OF ST. GERMAIN ELECTORS MEETING! DON'T LET THE CURRENT ELECTED OFFICIALS RAISE YOUR TAXES UNNECESSARILY!!!!

Does Your Town Board have the Expertise to Choose The Right Consultants? Are they really looking out for your best interests, or is there a hidden agenda here and you are being manipulated into giving them their way?

The question is, "Is Function Design Studio, LLC the right company to tackle a project of this magnatude, i.e. Design and Construction of a multi million dollar project?

Lets look at some facts:

1. In 2017 the town board hired Funktion Design Studio LLC to give them recommendations on remodeling and/or constructing a new community building and office space. At the time Funktion Design Studio LLC had only been in business for about a year, with no history of ever completing a project of this size and magnatude. According to Linkedin.com the only project they have completed was a redesign of a concession stand at the Crandon Race Track. The company was formed in 2016 by Mr. Rick Schroeder AIA and Melody Hamlin, an Architectural Intern for 27 years. When looking at Mr. Schroeder's Profile he has never held a position for longer than a few years. This is not being stated to diminish his credibility in no way, but only to point out that there is no guarantee that Funktion Design will be in business to see the Town of St. Germain project through to completion with no valid company history.


2. In the fall of 2017, Funktion Design Studio presented four proposals to the St. Germain town board. The town board narrowed the four options down to two. Option #3 is to incorporate the 1941 portion of the Red Brick Schoolhouse onto a newly constructed Community Center. The present community center and the 1965 portion of the Red Brick Schoolhouse would be completely demolished. Option #4 is to demolish both the present Community Center and the Red Brick Schoolhouse and to construct a new community building with Town office space on the site.


3. The town board has paid Funktion Design Studio almost $8,000 so far, to provide the four recommendations. Option #3 is projected to cost between $3 million and $3.5 million. Option #4 is projected to cost between $3.5 million and $4 million.


4. Funktion Design Studio recommended Option #3 as being the better option for the town. Even though Option #3 is the cheaper of the two options and even though the town board had paid Funktion Design Studio almost $8,000 to make the recommendation, your town board chose to ignore the recommendations they paid for, and not to pick Option #3. The town board chose Option #4 instead. It appears that this was the favorite conclusion the Town Board had all the time but when the consultants did not agree or come up with their conclusion they simply cast it aside and move on to their favorite option of the two with no regard to the costs to the tax payers.


5. The discussion of renovating the Red Brick Schoolhouse began in 1997. That is the year that the Northland Pines School District deeded the Red Brick Schoolhouse back to the Town of St. Germain. Between that time and the present, there have been several estimates as to the cost of renovating the school. The very highest of those estimates was $500,000. It seems that the demise and deterioration of the school has been carefully engineered over time by past Town Boards with the hope of having the Red Brick school house fall down by itself. This is evident when the paving was done on the west side of the building and the grade was not prepared properly and artificially raised to allow water to flow into the entrance because the pavement was higher than the doorway. This allowed water to escape into the building. On the East side of the building the landscaping grade was graded towards the building and not away from the building which allows water to collect and seep through the block foundation wall and into the basement area. Fortunately there is NO structural damage, as it is a block wall and there is only calcification of the cement mortar, which is easily fixable. When the roof on the addition had soffit failure, the Town chose to ignore it and not have it repaired. Because of that, this all needs to be replaced and a new rood added. The Town also disconnected the piping to the boiler in the 1961 addition side because they did not want to pay for the heating in that vacant space. However, they failed to drain the system properly, and this caused the pipes to crack and break and they need to be replaced, but a forced hot air system would be the better choice as it allow for air conditioning to be installed.


6. During the past few months there have been several special town board meetings to discuss the proposed building plan. During those discussions, it has been brought up several times that the Red Brick Schoolhouse is not being used now and what does the town need with a lot of extra space. The upper and lower levels of the Red Brick Schoolhouse could provide around 10,000 square feet of usable space. Well the Town need this building to house Town Offices. As it stands right now, most of the Town's elected officials operate out of their homes. If you need a dog license or other license you have to chase around the town clerk because there are no regular offices or office hours. If you need a building permit, you have to chase the town worker at the town shop to get one. If you want to speak to the town chairman you have to chase him down at his place of business.

The town of Coverland which is much smaller than St. Germain has one building, the Town Hall, where you can make one stop for all your needs and they have posted business hours. This is true of Plum Lake, Boulder Junction, and many more in the area......but not here.


7. The proposed building plan is not a slam dunk. There are objections. One objection is to how much space is being provided to the Prime Timers Club. The estimated cost of the new building is about $264.90 per square foot. If the proposed Prime Timers room is 722 square feet and the proposed Prime Timers storage room is 181.5 square feet, the Town of St. Germain would be providing $239,337.15 worth of space to the Prime Timers. A second objection is that there would no longer be a full gym. One thought is to use the Northland Pines Elementary School gym. However, a custodian must be present when someone is in the gym, and it is not always convenient to use the gym at a time when a custodian can be present. A third objection is the 957.5 square foot proposed kitchen. It sounds as though the idea of a commercial kitchen with fryers and ovens has been dropped, but the proposed kitchen is still huge.


8. None of the four Funktion Design Studio proposals was to renovate the present community center and the Red Brick Schoolhouse as they are. If it did cost $500,000 to renovate the school and another $500,000 to renovate the present community center, it would be $3 million less than the current proposal. But it seems that this was not an option proposed by the Town Board for Funktion Design Studios to pursue. Structurally, there is nothing wrong with the present community center building. Does it have issues, of course. Can they be addressed and made better, of course. But there is no expertise on the current board to recognize this and they have to rely on elsewhere for guidance.


9. The town board has worked hard to pay down the town debt. If there were to be no building program, the total town debt would be paid off in 2019. The town board’s argument now, is that the new $4 million building can be built without increasing property taxes. Every $100,000 that is added to the tax roll will increase the mill rate by 14.7 cents per $1000 of assessed value. In other words, a home assessed at $184,000 (the average price of a home in St. Germain according to the 2010 census) would pay about $2704.00 towards the new building over the life of the loan at twelve years whuch was discussed at the last special town board meeting. The town board is correct. The payment for the new building could absorbed into the town budget without increasing taxes, if nothing else is done. That means no roadwork, no new patrol trucks, no new fire trucks, during the life of the loan for the new building.


10. So, would the new building increase property taxes? There are two ways of looking at that. The current budgeted town debt payments total $536,349. If the building program was voted down, and the town, in 2019, was debt free, the mill rate could be lowered by 78.9 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. In other words, a home assessed at $184,000 could see its taxes lowered by about $145.17. Or, if there were no other debt, $536,349 in roadwork could be done, or a patrol truck or fire truck could be purchased without borrowing. Or the Red Brick Schoolhouse and the present community center could be renovated and paid off in two years, all without increasing the mill rate over what it is now.


11. This is now the town board’s plan. The elector meeting, at which the vote is going to take place, is going to be in May. This is after the general town board elections, and there is a possibility of two new town board members being elected in April. That could change the entire situation all over again. It will be a special elector meeting called by the town board. Unlike the Annual Elector Meeting in April, the meeting is not run by the electors, it is run by the town board. There will be an agenda. There will be two questions on the project. One will be to demolish both the Red Brick Schoolhouse and the community center. It will be a yes or no vote. The second question will be to borrow up to $4 million for the new building. It will also be a yes or no vote. Here is the problem. If the demolition question passes, the town board will find a way to demolish the buildings. If the borrowing question fails, the town board will just come back with a cheaper building. It will still have the authority from the electors to tear down both buildings, the current Community Center AND The Red Brick School House.

12. The two questions should be combined into one, thereby protecting the will of the people and not giving the town board total discretion of what happens to Town assets. The question would then be, should we demolish both buildings and borrow the $4 million.


13.  It is our opinion that if the electors, the resident people of the town, knew that the town board was planning on asking for $4 million, they may not be in favor of such an expenditure. The best this for the town electors to do it get out to these meetings and voice what you have to say. It is YOUR Town, YOU live here and you have a right to help decide its future.

Have Changes Been Made Because We Raised the Issue?

 Last Monday, January 29th, 2018 at 4 PM there was a St. Germain Special Town Board meeting in the board room of the Community Center. In a nutshell, the meeting was to listen too another presentation from Funktion Design about the proposal for a new community center and town offices. Prior to this meeting, on January 17th to be exact, and after the last meeting I published a blog and in it raised some issues and concerns via the blog format which was posted on Facebook and other outlets. The issues I raised, some of which have been addressed and now changes have been made, leads me to believe that someone within the town board is reading this blog and raising these concerns with the design company, and Funktion Design has addressed some of them and made changes, or..........is this just a coincidence?

Below is what issues I raised and my interpretation of what was stated last Monday reflecting the changes.   

Here is what I said in my previous blog regarding fire safety and other matters within the building.

"I listened in amazement the other night as Funktion explained that they would propose two separate buildings connected with a common firewall. One side would be the community center and the other side would be the town offices.  The reason for this design is to avoid installation of a sprinkler system, which is required per code depending on the size of the building. When I question this I was informed that there are very little combustible construction materials and there is no need. What was demonstrated by the answers to me, was the lack of understanding of why a sprinkler system is required. People in a fire situation die mostly due to smoke inhalation, not burning to death. It is not about saving the building, it is about saving lives." 

In last Monday's meeting it was stated that there would now be a sprinkler system installed with an underground reservoir to contain water needed to feed the system.

"The other thing that was interesting was an area of about 800 square feet for a kitchen. Now that's a pretty big kitchen.  The size of a one bedroom apartment for comparison. I asked if the reason for so much square footage was to allow for a walk in cooler and a walk in freezer, and the answer was no, if that was a requirement they would be outside as an addition to the building. If you want to see a walk in cooler inside of a kitchen, go over to the Subway. It is right behind the register. Tom Christiansen, the Town Chairman, told me in that public meeting that this size was to possibly have the kitchen large enough to provide a full commercial kitchen, should the community center be made into a convention center in the future." 

In last Monday's meeting the designs have been changed to include a walk in cooler and a walk in freezer, fully within the kitchen area, should the town decide to install these. 

"It appeared to me that Funktion Design has no idea of how a restaurant kitchen is constructed because these types of kitchens are designed for food preparation and work flow. As a former restaurant owner who built his restaurant from the ground up, I fully know all of the requirements and design requirements. I am sure that Funktion Design and the current board does not have a clue as to what NSF requirements are, and how they dictate what equipment goes into a kitchen. This is currently evident because of all of the NON NSF equipment there is in the present kitchen." 

It seems that the kitchen floor plan has been changed also. It is hard to see from the plans distributed, but it appears that the kitchen cooking equipment is planned to be in the center of the room with a suspended hood. This is a very bad idea for the following reasons. 1. If there is a grease fire, the button to activate the ANSUL system would be on a far wall. To activate it to dispense the chemical fire retardant a person may be required to walk past a burning fire to get to the button. The kitchen line up should be on an outside wall. 2. If there was a fire, with a center line up and limits exit capability, people could be trapped behind the fire with no way to escape. 

"There are unseen costs that are not being addresses that are on going. Costs such as a service to clean the filters in the overhead hood. They talked about make up air when installing a hood into a kitchen, but did not seem to know that the right hood has a make up air system already in it. Another ongoing cost is the by annual inspection and certification of the ANSUL system contained within the hood. This is also a fire suppression system, where if there is a grease fire, the operator can push a button and the entire surface area under the hood will be covered with a fire retardant foam." 

None of this issue was discussed at this meeting. 

"There was talk of possible fryers under that hood, but no talk of who was going to change the grease in it. Would you like to eat food from a fryer that had the grease sitting in it for months from a previous user." 

The overall design of the building is still lacking. John Vojta stated there needs to be a roll up door in the back of the "GYM" because they need to get lifts inside for maintenance. Then next to that they need an escape door. My opinion is this is not necessary due to the fact that there are double glass doors, similar to what you see in a car dealership to get cars into the showroom, that would accomplish the following. However, the room is planned to hold 384 occupants with only ONE exit directly to the outside via a vestibule. The other exit goes through the town offices side of the hallway, then to the outside. But both of these exits are in the front of the space and NO exit on the back side. 

1. With a room capacity of over 300, in an emergency evacuation people need to get out fast. It is much easier to get out of a six foot wide door instead of a 3 foot wide door. 

2. Exit doors can be made in many height configurations, i.e. 6'8, 7' and 8'. That would accommodate any size lift. 

"There was NO talk of the continued janitorial maintenance that would be required. With the proposal of movable room dividers, if a club, or temporary renter or user, needed a smaller room WHO was going to go to the center and do the room set up? Doesn't our current public works department have enough already on their plate?  There are many, many still unanswered questions that need to be addressed, but the expertise seems to be lacking in the current board members wheelhouse. They are completely relying on whatever Funktion Design tells them." 

"I want what the town actually needs. What I will say next might cost me votes, but it needs to be said. I cannot understand why I, and other tax payers, should pay additional square footage for a  space in a new building for a club.  In other words why do we need to have a room solely for the use of one club or another."  

The building design is allowing a private club to have room space in excess of a little over 1000 square feet. That is 1/15th of the entire building, solely for the use of the Prime Timers. Lets put that into a dollar amount. The building size is now about 15,000 square feet. The building projected costs is a little over 3.9 million dollars. That means that taxpayers will be giving to the Prime Timers $260,000.00 of your tax dollars for a room virtually for their exclusive use. When I questioned this it was stated from the chair that other groups could use that room if needed. However, we all know from the room that they have, that it is virtually off limits on a regular basis. Lois Ruttiger, who administers the building stated they need that room to keep their stuff in. I simply ask WHY? Like all other groups who use the community center, bring your stuff in, have your meeting, and get it out. All other clubs do this, why are the Prime Timers special. It should be a community room simply said.  Tom Christensen stated that other groups did not express any desire to have similar needs. That's because they make use of that is available, they bring their "stuff" in and when they leave they take it with them. Keep in mind that the Prime Timers also have a building behind the groomer barn on Town Property that should be used for their storage needs.

"Why do we need to provide a club private storage space for their things. I also do not believe that "clubs" should be allowed to bring in things like refrigerators or freezers to the kitchen for their own use, and again non NSF equipment.  No one asked me if I was willing to pay, with my taxes, for square footage for the sole use of a club.  My personal opinion is that if there is a common room, people should come in and use it, and take their stuff out of it when they're done.  The town, nor its taxpayers,  have any obligation to provide a private club storage space at the cost of the taxpayers." 

I hope I am accurate when I say this. Tom Christensen stated that with a 12 year levy, it would add $38 dollars to a residents tax bill for every $100K value to their property. So a $300K homeowner  would be paying an additional $112.00 per year for the next twelve year in additional taxes. For some that is not a lot. For others on fixed incomes it might make an impact on their livelihood. 

"Well folks this is your opportunity to let the town board know what you the tax payers want from the town to enact. I can assure you that if elected I will listen to the people. I have no hidden agenda here. I am running for office because I am not happy about the way things are being done now. I know I have the qualifications to fill the gaps and bring knowledge and expertise to the current board. I am a Certified Project Manager, Certified Telecommunications Engineer, Member of the National Fire Protection Association,  Master's Degree in Management, Degree in Labor Law, Degree in Applied Behavioral Science and a Degree in Computer Science. I have also taken advanced classes at both Harvard and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  I am also the President of a non profit known as Soldiers on Sleds. So come on out on April 3rd and cast you vote for Jack Bourgeois and help decide the future of this town.  Put some expertise back on the board: Vote for Jack. "

I simply cannot understand why the residents and the voting public of the town of St. Germain have no real interest in how their tax dollars are being spent by your present board of supervisors.  Since I have been in regular attendance of Town Board meetings, and Special Town board meetings, I am amazed that there is very little interest displayed by the voting public. Don't they realize that if this project comes to fruition their taxes will increase due to the funding of the proposed four million dollar project?

Sometime ago the Town of St. Germain entered into a contract with a company called Funktion Design.  The town has spent thousands of dollars to this company to come up with a plan for the future of the Red Brick School House and the current Community Center.  This candidate thinks that no matter what Funktion Design came up with, there was already a favorite conclusion of tearing down both buildings and starting anew. 

 Initially Funktion Design presented to the board four options. The Town Board felt that it would be too confusing to the residents to give them four options to chose from in a vote, so they initially approved Option Three and Option Four. Option #3 where the Red Brick Schoolhouse would be incorporated into the new building is about $500,000 less than what they are planning now, which is a complete tear down of the current buildings and a rebuild of a new single building.

I listened in amazement the other night as Funktion explained that they would propose two separate buildings connected with a common firewall. One side would be the community center and the other side would be the town offices.  The reason for this design is to avoid installation of a sprinkler system, which is required per code depending on the size of the building. When I question this I was informed that there are very little combustible construction materials and there is no need. What was demonstrated by the answers to me, was the lack of understanding of why a sprinkler system is required. People in a fire situation die mostly due to smoke inhalation, not burning to death. It is not about saving the building, it is about saving lives. 

The other thing that was interesting was an area of about 800 square feet for a kitchen. Now that's a pretty big kitchen.  The size of a one bedroom apartment for comparison. I asked if the reason for so much square footage was to allow for a walk in cooler and a walk in freezer, and the answer was no, if that was a requirement they would be outside as an addition to the building. If you want to see a walk in cooler inside of a kitchen, go over to the Subway. It is right behind the register. Tom Christiansen, the Town Chairman, told me in that public meeting that this size was to possibly have the kitchen large enough to provide a full commercial kitchen, should the community center be made into a convention center in the future. 

It appeared to me that Funktion Design has no idea of how a restaurant kitchen is constructed because these types of kitchens are designed for food preparation and work flow. As a former restaurant owner who built his restaurant from the ground up, I fully know all of the requirements and design requirements. I am sure that Funktion Design and the current board does not have a clue as to what NSF requirements are, and how they dictate what equipment goes into a kitchen. This is currently evident because of all of the NON NSF equipment there is in the present kitchen. 

There are unseen costs that are not being addresses that are on going. Costs such as a service to clean the filters in the overhead hood. They talked about make up air when installing a hood into a kitchen, but did not seem to know that the right hood has a make up air system already in it. Another ongoing cost is the by annual inspection and certification of the ANSUL system contained within the hood. This is also a fire suppression system, where if there is a grease fire, the operator can push a button and the entire surface area under the hood will be covered with a fire retardant foam. 

There was talk of possible fryers under that hood, but no talk of who was going to change the grease in it. Would you like to eat food from a fryer that had the grease sitting in it for months from a previous user. 

There was NO talk of the continued janitorial maintenance that would be required. With the proposal of movable room dividers, if a club, or temporary renter or user, needed a smaller room WHO was going to go to the center and do the room set up? Doesn't our current public works department have enough already on their plate?  There are many, many still unanswered questions that need to be addressed, but the expertise seems to be lacking in the current board members wheelhouse. They are completely relying on whatever Funktion Design tells them. 

Every time there is any mention of the saving of the Red Brick School House there are detractors on the board who want it gone completely.  Now this might sound like I am in favor of saving the Red Brick School House.  Actually if does not matter, for me. What matters is that the residents of the town get what they want and need, rather than some small group simply saying "Here, take this and like it, and smile when you write your check to pay for it."

I want what the town actually needs. What I will say next might cost me votes, but it needs to be said. I cannot understand why I, and other tax payers, should pay additional square footage for a  space in a new building for a club.  In other words why do we need to have a room solely for the use of one club or another.  Why do we need to provide a club private storage space for their things. I also do not believe that "clubs" should be allowed to bring in things like refrigerators or freezers to the kitchen for their own use, and again non NSF equipment.  No one asked me if I was willing to pay with my taxes for square footage for the sole use of a club.  My personal opinion is that if there is a common room, people should come in and use it, and take their stuff out of it when they're done.  The town, nor its taxpayers,  have any obligation to provide a private club storage space at the cost of the taxpayers. 

Here is a history that was given to me on the history of the Red Brick School House by one of the towns prominent historians.

     "On December 20th, Ted Ritter’s only objection  to option #3 was that “there might be problems” with the foundation of the school.  Last night, the board was told that a private group would pay for an exploratory dig to determine whether or not the foundation was good or bad.  I have a feeling that there is a much better than 50-50 chance that there is nothing wrong with it.  Over the years, the school boards and town boards, in their infinite wisdom, have sloped the ground towards the building rather than away from it. 

     So, when Tom Christensen said to you that the board is “beyond that”, it sounds to me that the members of the town board hate the Red Brick Schoolhouse so much that they would rather have the taxpayers pay a half million dollars more for a new building than taking a chance on the fact that there is nothing wrong with the school.

     Back in 2004, when he was on the town board, Ted Ritter drafted and the town board approved, a resolution to preserve and maintain the 1941 portion of the Red Brick Schoolhouse as long as it didn’t cost the taxpayers any money.  At the time, and now, I think that is a pretty ridiculous resolution since the building is town property and why shouldn’t the town spend money to preserve and maintain it.  On December 20, 2017 when Ted Ritter made the motion to demolish both buildings, he finally got his wish.

   Back around 2005, there was a referendum.  The question with the most “yes” votes was the one that would have spent money to remodel the Red Brick Schoolhouse.  But, that isn’t what the town board wanted to hear, so they said that they couldn’t make a decision from the referendum.  Then, at an annual elector meeting there was a motion to repair the roof at a cost of around $35,000.  But, again, that isn’t what the town board wanted to hear, so the roof never got repaired.  Then in 2017, the town board hired Funktion Design Studio to give the town board some direction.  Funktion actually recommended option #3, which was to preserve the Red Brick Schoolhouse and to incorporate it into the new building.  But, once again, that isn’t what the town board wanted to hear, so Ted Ritter made the motion to demolish both buildings and to cost the taxpayers a half million dollars more than what was recommended by Funktion. 

     Then to top it all off, Tom Christensen found out that the town board does not have to hold a referendum election to get approval for the new building.  It can be done at an elector meeting.  So, if ten people show up, those ten people can decide if the building project is going to through or not.  If you have any connections in town, that annual elector meeting is going to be held on the third Tuesday in April at 7:00 P.M. at the Community Center.  If you don’t want the taxpayers to have to spend a half million dollars that they wouldn’t have to be spending, pack the room with your friends!"

When speaking of the Red Brick School House another constituent wrote to me the following as to why they do not come to the town board meetings. Is this the typical attitude of the voters. I certainly hope not. Apathy should not be the rule of the people. They are simply worn out and tired of fighting? But you are fighting, because you have not put the people who feel the same way as you do, into public office. 

 "The problem is that so many people put so much effort and time to try and save it, and the board at that time just ignored and ridiculed us. Lets face it, the town board does not care what the people that voted them in have to say. They took away the citizens concerns part of the meetings for a reason. They follow their own agenda. We voted to save the Red Brick, and our organization paid to have the boiler repaired and working. They turned around and had the boiler lines literally cut, causing more damage. Not mentioning names but that previous board member that ordered it was a bully to one of the seniors that was the head of our committee. I personally do not have the time nor money it takes to fight anymore. The board has no respect for their constituents. Never has. Time to vote them out." (edited for grammar and punctuation)

Well folks this is your opportunity to let the town board know what you the tax payers want from the town to enact. I can assure you that if elected I will listen to the people. I have no hidden agenda here. I am running for office because I am not happy about the way things are being done now. I know I have the qualifications to fill the gaps and bring knowledge and expertise to the current board. I am a Certified Project Manager, Certified Telecommunications Engineer, possess a Master's Degree in Management, a Degree in Labor Law, a Degree in Applied Behavioral Science and a Degree in Computer Science. I have also taken advanced classes at both Harvard and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  I am also the President of a non profit known as Soldiers on Sleds. So come on out on April 3rd and cast you vote for Jack Bourgeois and help decide the future of this town.  Put some expertise back on the board: Vote for Jack.