By M. D. Drysdale

In its first meeting since Randolph citizens voted by a narrow margin not to move the town offices to the former co-op space, the selectboard re-activated the earlier plan to enlarge and renovate the existing town office building on Summer Street.

The board on Tuesday directed the Municipal Building Committee to develop specifications to allow the project to be re-bid.

Any expectations that this would be a straightforward easy process, however, seemed to be dashed as board members considered the situation.

The contract has already been put out to bid and a bid was accepted and signed from a consortium of three firms led by the Randolph engineering firm of DuBois & King. The bidding process was later invalidated by the court, however, because the consortium had used a "design build" process that other firms had not been told was a possibility.

Other firms should get a fair chance to enter the "design build" process, the court said.

However, it was pointed out at the meeting, D&K has already completed $83,000 of the engineering and has been paid for it. Those engineering designs belong to D&K; they’re not owned by the town, said Public Works Director John Rotter.

"We spent money on a contract that was voided by the court," Selectboard Chair Jim Hutchinson explained.

That means, Selectman Damon Lease observed, "DuBois and King can underbid the others by $83,000."

"Will this be a level playing field?" asked Selectman Larry Townsend.

Hutchinson allowed that the firm "might conceivably have an advantage because they’ve been through this whole thing."

Legal advice, however, is that this situation should not present "a stumbling block" to the process, he said.

What is certain is that the town now has just $1.1 million set aside for the project, instead of the original $1.2 million.

It’s also uncertain whether costs will have increased substantially from the time the project first went to bid. Selectmen hold out the hope, however, that the current slow construction climate may mean better prices.

Won’t Hire Lawyer

The selectboard decided not to provide a lawyer to help the Development Review Board defend in court its list of conditions it has placed on builder Kevin Blakeman’s plan for a nine-unit building on Sunset Drive.

Some neighbors are reported to be opposing Blakeman in court, so the town doesn’t need to spend the money to do so, it was decided.

However, Zoning Administrator Mardee Sanchez will "monitor" the proceedings to make sure the town’s zoning ordinance itself doesn’t come under a legal cloud. If that happens, the town should hire a lawyer to protect the ordinance, selectmen decided.

But it will not hire a lawyer to fight for the the validity of the actual rulings in the Blakeman case.

The conditions involve various instructions for placement of driveways and for the amount of lawn that may be mowed.

Blakeman said at the meeting he still hopes to get neighbors to agree to change the entire project to six single-family homes.

Other Business

• The town agreed to pay $500 to CVPS for a tiny piece of land near the Pleasant View Cemetery. Apparently, the cemetery vault was built years ago on "somebody else’s property," Hutchinson said.

Indeed, the town’s deceased have been spending their winters on CVPS property, and not paying rent, either.

CVPS is trying to clear up various real estate titles, it was explained. And since the property does not appear on Randolph tax maps, the town won’t lose any taxes by buying it.

• Laura Ranker obtained selectboard approval to apply for a $30,000 planning grant to exlore the location and condition of utility pipes at the Salisbury Street property of the Randolph Area Community Development Corp. (RACDC). The development corporation hopes to create 20-24 housing units on the downtown lot.

"The selectboard has supported the Salisbury Square project from the beginning," commented Townsend. He pointed out that existing sewer and water users will benefit, because future costs will be spread among more people.

A public hearing is required and will be held Jan. 15.

• It was noted that water and sewer foreman Aaron Perez has accepted another job, and he was wished goodspeed with appreciation for his work in Randolph.

• The "Greening" group in town, with the participation of several town committee officials, is working on a project to build a composting operation down by the former landfill, Selectman Steve Springer announced.

More details are to come in January.