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.
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