Last week I received my latest batch of documents obtained under the Right to Know law.  Now I have the details of the latest $4 million plan to restore Brewster Hall. Here they are:

That’s it folks.  That’s what the Selectmen had in front of them when they voted to approve this $4 million plan.  So you might be thinking that somebody must have put some thought into this and carefully decided on it.  Here’s how the Chairman developed the plan:

That’s right.  She had Rob Houseman change the name of the Auditorium to Multi-Purpose Room and then had the Town Manager make some copies for the meeting that night.  Need a plan to go with that $4 million CIP “placeholder”?  Check.

But wait, it gets better.  If you watched the 8 minutes of the Oct 17 Selectmen’s meeting where she presents and gets it approved (not on the agenda), you will hear Sarah Silk ask her if it includes an elevator. She says yes, it does.

Here is the  spreadsheet from last year’s meeting when they discussed this option. Look on the last page under “conveying systems”.  Hydraulic Passenger Elevator – nothing.  If you go back to the last $4 million plan from 2011, the elevator was estimated at $93,700, and that didn’t include the work required to build the shaft.

There is absolutely no documentation for the estimated $1 million cost of the new so-called Multi-Purpose Room.

These folks have simply never seen a Brewster Hall plan that they wouldn’t be willing to spend your money on.  I’m still waiting for one.