By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

HARRISON — With construction of a $3 million plus new garage facility, Harrison seemed set in the Public Works area for years to come.

A surprise major expense, however, could be looming.

“The sand/salt shed has run into some life problems,” Town Manager Cass Newell told the Select Board at last week’s meeting. “We’re looking into how to best proceed forward and adhere to our insurance company’s requirements. That’s not a simple fix, as we thought originally.”

The shed was evaluated by Public Works in June and workers found that concrete “on the inside and outside of the circle” needed to be addressed as well as some roofing.

When material is stockpiled against the perimeter of the ring wall over time, salt can cause corrosion and deterioration. Other damage, caused by town equipment, around the roof header at the entrance was also discovered.

The shed was built in 1972.

“It’s a fairly old building. It’s unique in its shape. From all the discussions we’ve had with our insurance company, there are usually problems with this,” Newell added. “We need some help, some serious help with this.”

Jeff Preble of Wright-Pierce Engineering, which has done revitalization work for Harrison, is assisting local officials in determining whether the structure can be fixed and meet insurance requirements or whether the town might be looking at building a new sand/salt storage area.

The best option is to rehab the existing structure, but Preble said the big concern is whether chloride has penetrated the ring wall and has affected the stability of the concrete. He suggested testing the concrete to determine the core’s thickness at this point. The test results will then point the town in what option — rehab or rebuild — direction it should pursue.

The test cost about $10,000.

“We just want to make sure that the concrete wing has some viable life left in it,” he said. “Replacement is a very expensive option.”

A new storage facility carries an estimated pricetag of $800,000.

The Select Board unanimously approved the $10,000 expenditure with funds coming from the Undesignated Fund Balance.

In other news:

Call of respect. Hearing recent exchanges between Select Board members and some citizens at past meetings left residents Ray Rynkowski and Brian Spaulding calling for a greater degree of respect.

“As a representative of the Select Board, what’s your primary position of responsibilities and who do you represent?” Rynkowski asked during the public participation segment of last Thursday’s board meeting.

Rynkowski referenced a BN account of a previous meeting which conversation between officials and the public became “vicious,” in Rynkowski’s view.

“I didn’t think it was appropriate. If you’re representing the people, you sit back and you say, ‘hello.’ ‘Yes, I understand we don’t have an answer for you, but will we more than happy to get back to you or have a special meeting or what needs to be done to follow up on your questions?’ What I read in the paper, that’s disrespect. That’s not the answer that a person is here for. You don’t want to frighten and intimidate people so that they can’t come and do what I’m doing…You were elected by the people. You represent the people and you’re going to fight with the person? I don’t agree with what you did. You need to honor and respect the person that’s doing the presentation, right or wrong or indifferent.”

After Board chairman Matthew Frank thanked Rynkowski for his input and saying, “I’ll take it under consideration because obviously all of us can do better. I agree with you, we should treat everybody with respect,” he asked if anyone else wanted to speak.

Brian Spaulding offered his take. “I echo pretty much what Mr. Rynkowski said, I’m in total agreement with him. I left here at the last meeting with a heavy heart and I felt guilty because I didn’t rise to the defense of one of our townspeople, who brought meaningful issues for consideration. I was upset with myself that I didn’t do that. That bothered me for a month. That’s not right.”

Spaulding asked the board to respect those who come before them and the public should respect those who serve in public office.

“It’s a mutual street…It works both ways,” he said.