PINEHURST — The Village of Pinehurst Council met Tuesday, December 13, where they decided on a design firm for the Given Memorial Library and Tuft Archives.
The council approved a resolution to appoint Bruce Hironimus to the Planning and Zoning Board as well as the Board of Adjustments.
Hironimus had prior government experience, having worked for the Pennsylvania DOT, as well as serving on the Derry Township Planning and Zoning Board and the Hershey Long-Term Comprehensive Plan Committee.
“I enjoyed the nature of the work from past experiences,” Hironimus said. “I’ve been here now full-time over the last three years, and I’m just coming off of two nine-year stints at FirstHealth on various boards there. I got term-limited off two of their entities, so I found myself with some time, and potentially, I thought this was an area I could bring some skill and experience.”
“When we interviewed Bruce, a couple of things really stuck out to me,” said Planning and Zoning Board Chair Jeramy Hooper. “One was his high level of professionalism, and his background in governmental affairs was clear in our conversations. His approach and acumen were one of wanting to contribute and help our planning board in our current efforts. Those really stuck out for me.”
The council then approved John Taylor as Chairman of the Pinehurst Historic Preservation Commission.
The council also approved a $134,900 contract with Simmons Heating, Cooling, and Electrical for HVAC replacement at Assembly Hall.
“The equipment is approximately 25 years old, so it is nearing the end of its life cycle here as it was part of the original construction on this building back in 1997,” said Parks and Recreation Director Mark Wagner. “We had $120,000 budgeted for this, and as we’ve seen with other projects and equipment purchases, inflation has hit this number too.”
According to Wagner, due to the cost of the project, Village staff went through the formal bid process. Still, only one vendor submitted a bid. Simmons, who was already the current preventative maintenance vendor for HVAC in the Village for nearly five years, was the single submission.
According to the vendor, it should be a 3-6 week process for equipment to arrive, and it will take 1-2 weeks for installation.
The council was then presented with the current state of the Given Memorial Library and Tuft Archives expansion project.
“We have plans to expand our library and archive services, and we’ve selected the firm of Oakley Collier to do the architectural work and ultimately contract management for whoever builds that new or expanded facility,” said Village Manager Jeff Sanborn.
The current budget for the project is $4 million, but due to inflation and rising costs, Village staff expressed concern about the fact that it might not be enough to cover all the costs associated with the expansion project.
“Typically, for all design services, it’s 10% of what the total budget is for the project,” said Assistant Village Manager Doug Willardson. “Right now, I’ve been going back and forth with Oakley Collier discussing how we don’t know exactly how much this building might cost. So, I asked them for a proposal to provide the initial programming and schematic design work, and from there, we can find a full project cost. Once we get that full project cost, we can amend the budget amount to 10% of whatever the project is. This provides us the most flexibility to be able to determine what we want for the library as a whole and all the features that we want.”
The cost for Phase I of the contract — the programming and schematic design — amounts to $140,000, which was approved by the council.
The Village of Pinehurst Council will next meet January 10.
