By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES— A scissor lift is the newest edition to the Naples Gym.

It almost sounds like exercise equipment. However, as most residents know, the town gym is closed to the public because of an unsafe roof.

Instead of assisting with fitness goals, the scissor lift has been used for tasks to accomplish the goal of rehabilitating the old gym.

Last year, residents approved $614,000 to be appropriated from the TIF account to rehabilitate the gymnasium without replacing the roof. Voters okayed that sum of already existing dollars during a special town meeting in the late summer/autumn of 2023. Basically, the roof of the 50+ years-old gym will be shored up with steel beams. The end goal: The space will be transformed into meeting room(s) and offices for municipal employees.

Earlier this month — a scissor lift was delivered to the gym, according to Naples Town Manager Jason Rogers.

At first, the scissor lift was used by maintenance personnel to remove those items in the overhead that the town wanted to keep such as the LED lighting system that was installed recently, he said.

Now, the scissor lift is having an uplifting impact on the Great Falls crew. Great Falls Construction, Inc., based in Gorham, is the contractor doing the roof-reinforcement job.

“Currently, the demolition phase of the project is in progress,” Rogers said at the beginning of this week.

“The interior ceiling material and insulation are being removed,” he said. “The concrete floor will be cut later this week.”

Rogers laid out Great Falls’ plans for finishing the job.

“The steel beam will be added to reinforce the exiting roof structure. The roof will be pulled back to its wooden base layer, any and all damaged boards will be replaced and a new insulating roofing material will be applied, increasing the R-Value to R30,” he said.

On a bi-monthly basis, Rogers has been updating the Naples Select Board on the status of the gym roof project. This Monday, he told the board that about the start-up of the demolition process, and what would happen next.

Also, Rogers has been keeping Naples residents ‘in the know’ via Facebook. He told the board that he had posted a photo and comment on the town’s Facebook page.

The first post on Facebook is dated Jan. 11 Then, on Tuesday morning, the day after the select board’s meeting, Rogers shared another picture and wrote the second post.

“Two weeks into the job and the team at Great Falls Construction continues with their progress,” the post said. “This past week they removed much of the sheetrock and fiberglass insulation from the ceiling. Next week, they will begin cutting into the floor to prepare for concrete footings which will help carry the load of the new support beam.”

This Monday, Rogers said the details of the finished product — the new floor plan —  will not come to light until the artist’s rendering is done. However he did say, there will be one conference room and space for additional offices. As soon as the sketch is delivered to the town, it will be shared with the community, he said. 

Earlier this month, on Jan. 8, Rogers explained the work-schedule agreement in which the contractors will be the least disruptive to the day-to-day operations at the town office. 

“In order to refrain from interfering with work at the town hall, the Great Falls team will limit their work to Fridays,” Rogers said.

The tall hall is closed to the public on Friday; and the town clerk’s office has that day off.

Also, Rogers requested that Great Falls be wrapped up with work that can be seen from the parking lot in time for the return of summer residents and tourists.

“The target deadline to complete exterior work is before Memorial Day,” he stressed. “Again, as folks go through the 100 days of summer, I want to minimize the amount of work happening in town.”