By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Naples Selectman Bob Caron II understands that the Naples Town Office is nearing the end of its lifespan.

He would like to see in its place a new building that houses both the town hall and a community center that could serve residents here for many decades to come. 

“The biggest issues that we see with the current town hall is: Number One: lack of space for current town employees with proper storage,” Caron said. “The structural support entities — electrical, heating, ventilation, water — are all under-sized. There is no more room for growth there.”

“Number two: The building has no potential to expand on because of the structure. It cannot meet the growth of the community for 10 years out,” he said. 

Amunicipality should aim “to build a facility that lasts 50 to 75 years. The goal is to have a building that is going to be on the property for 50 to 75 years like this current building has operated,” Caron said. 

Then, there is the gym that is in need of repair, even to the untrained eye. Periodically, the gym roof leaks. A grouping of ceilingpanels has been removed because of water damage and the insulation is either hanging out or at least visible. 

“From an activity standpoint, our recreation department cannot even offer a lot of activities because we don’t have the inside space for our children, for our adults, for our seniors who are asking for activities. We don’t have an idea if the programs would be successful or not because we don’t have the infrastructure to implement them,” Caron said. 

“We have a gym we can’t even use,” he said. 

“There are a lot of things over the years that have been snowballing; and unfortunately, it has come to this point.”

On Tuesday night, the Naples CommunityCenter Exploratory Committee had met. The committee had requested that Harriman Architects get more accurate cost estimates. The committee had reduced the square footage to make the building more compact, and also determined exactly which materials would be used.

It is expected that Harriman will provide those numbers in February. The town hall-community center question will be presented as a referendum during the school budget vote in May. The ballot-style voting draws a bigger turnout than annual town meeting so selectmen decided to put the question there. 

Prior to that, there will be informational postcards mailed to residents. Also, public workshops will be held so people can ask questions about the construction project.   

MORE THAN JUST CLERKS’ COUNTERS

Last week, Naples Town Manager John Hawley and Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) Kate Matthews provided a tour of the building. 

Hawley said that many residents are unaware of the poor conditions of the town hall building.

“The vast majority of people who use this building, come through and this is what they see. They walk through the front door, they see the counter and then they leave. They don’t see all these other spaces in the building. Some of these folks who are questioning why we need a new building don’t fully see what we see every day and why it needs to be upgraded,” Hawley said. “The biggest concern for this building is the gymnasium. The town office itself —  although we are undersized and maxed out for space — we could continue to survive here for however much longer,” he said.  

“We know that the gym needs to be replaced because of the roof issues, the structural issues. The drawback with replacing just the gym is that all the mechanical components that operate in the gym exist in the town office side of the building. And, as you see from the [engineering] reports, all the mechanical systems are reaching end of life,” he said. 

Therefore, replacing just the gym would require doubling-back and replacing all the mechanical systems in the very near future.

The gym (with its two bathrooms plus showers) is also used as an emergency shelter.

The structural integrity of the gym is questionable. The town does a good job of removing ice and snow from the roof that has been covered with a tarp for the past three winters. Any serious damage might be hiddenbehind the walls.

“Who knows how much water has gotten down inside the walls. The whole thing is damaged,” Matthews said. 

Hawley said, “We question the air quality because we don’t have access to the walls. We know there is mold in the ceiling. Itwas black mold. Without tearing off the paneling on a wall, we aren’t really sure.”

Also, a licensed electrician warned the town that the building could not handle any additional electric loads. 

“There are power surges in this building multiple times every day,” Hawley said. “We are not sure if it is an internal thing or from outside, but no one else has these problems. We have backup power supplies for our computers that are kicking on all day. That tells me we are loosing power here on a daily basis. But I cannot tell you if that is because of water in the walls or why it’s happening.”

In fact, there are signs that say if a person is using the microwave, unplug or don’t use other this appliance at the same time. 

“When someone is using the microwave, the heater goes off,” Hawley said. 

“Or the computers turn off,” Matthews said. 

“We have to reset breakers here on a regular basis,” Hawley said. “We make it work, but it’s not ideal.”

NOT ENOUGH OFFICE SPACE

During the day-time, behind the clerk’s counter, employees are busy in tiny offices.

Since Hawley started as town manager, he has moved his office three times to make room for additional staff. In other words, new people have been hired and the offices have been reduced in size. 

Some of the offices don’t have windows or heat. The Finance Director/Human Resource Director Harriet Libby has an inner office. She has to straddle oblong boxes of files, paperwork that she needs access to every day.    

“When we carved out these offices, we had to use the space we had. All these interior offices don’t have heat so we’ve had to put in little individual space heaters. There is no circulation,” Hawley said. “This building was built in the 1940s. We are constantly cold.” 

The code enforcement department does not have enough room or enough privacy, Matthews said. 

Because of the close proximity of the tiny offices and the lack of extra insulation, conversations and people passing down hallway are constant distractions and prevent discussions from being private, she said.

“A lot of code enforcement stuff — violations, people’s plans — it is very secretive and we don’t want it to get around town. Everybody can hear everything. The layout is too small. It isn’t currently working for the day and age we are in,” she said.

Then, there is logistics. It is hard to open up and review tax maps in Matthews’ office. The meeting room isn’t always available since it is the only extra space.

“We are a growing town for sure. There is just not enough space in this building. It is not laid out correctly. It is not ideal for anybody,” Matthews said.  “My office is so small that I am dropping stuff off my desk because I have no room.”

“We are growing. We are getting larger. We need to figure out a wayto make it work for the future rather than shoving people into tinier and tinier offices. It is not going to work,” she said. 

Hawley agreed.

“If we add any staff now, there is no where to put them. They’d have to work remotely,” he said. 

“We are running out of space,” Matthews continued. “It is unfortunate the way the layout of the building is. We could rehab but it would not solve the problems. We have such a waste of space just in the hallway. It is humungous. It is bigger than my office.” 

Then, there is the noise that carries rather than being muffled.     

“You can hear everybody. It is a very loud office. The staff can hear everyone in the gym doing pickleball or other activities. It is distracting,” she said. 

Hawley agreed. His office is the farthest away from the counters where staff greet the public. 

“I can hear the transactions going on at the front desk,” he said.