The Skaneateles Village Board of Trustees has unanimously passed five amendments to the ongoing project to renovate the old Fennell Street fire station in order to create the new village hall. The amendments not only expand and revise the scope of the project but also approve the expenditure of nearly $70,000 in additional compensation and costs for the design work completed to date.

The amendments were agreed to, written by and submitted to the village board by the members of the New Village Hall Steering Committee.

“The committee believes that the village has a responsibility to ‘set the example’ for stewardship of our property,” village mayor and steering committee member Marty Hubbard read from a prepared statement at the Sept. 27 village board meeting. “Significant additional time, above and beyond the original scope of the work, has been spent working on best re-use of space and the combined interests of the office staff and the police department have been taken into consideration.”

The amendments are:

—$7,600 in additional compensation for the extra 10 meetings attended by the steering committee, assistance with hazardous material planning and professional consultant selection, and development of a schematic design over an additional 10 weeks.

—$39,600 relative to the revised scope of the schematic design to complete additional architectural and structural engineering for an entrance addition and additional exterior design work, as well as mechanical and electrical engineering services beyond schematic design.

—$14,700 in additional architectural and engineering services to design as energy efficient a building as possible. This encompasses assistance with federal Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) certification documentation to be prepared by the village’s hired architect and structural engineer.

—$7,459.33 in additional compensation for the assistance the steering committee received in preparing a state energy savings grant application, which is currently being considered in Albany.

—The administration of five public bidding contracts for the project: general construction, electrical, heating and ventilation, plumbing and geothermal. Since the total project is estimated to cost more than $500,000, the village must advertise for contracts under the mandates of the New York state Wick’s Law.

The additional design work and accompanying extra costs are the natural result of a generally-outlined project becoming more detailed as work has progressed, stated steering committee members Hubbard, Trustee Jim Lanning, former Trustee John Cromp and the village’s Director of Municipal Operations Bob Lotkowicz.

The steering committee, along with architect Connie Brace of QPK Architects, began the design and planning work for the Fennell Street building renovations in late spring and met weekly during the entire summer. Their design plans included numerous energy-efficient – or green energy – considerations for which multiple grants were applied for to offset costs.

The total bill for phase one of the renovation project – interior renovations – was estimated at the start, and by a different architectural company than the one now on the project, at about $350,000 with phase two being about the same price. The cost is not supposed to exceed the $830,000 sale price of the current village hall building on Genesee Street, the village board announced when the project was first approved.

All four committee members told the Skaneateles Press that they do not expect the total cost to exceed the $800,000 profit from the Genesee Street building sale, and if higher costs are discovered the project will be amended to keep the price tag in line.

Committee members also agreed that final, more definitive costs will not be known until a project budget is established in October and the results of the five contract bids are known in mid-November.

Trustee Mary Sennett, during board discussion on the proposed amendments, said the reason the board created the new village hall steering committee was for its members to create and consider the best way to get the project done. “If they feel these are the right things to do, then I say we trust their judgment,” she said.

No other discussion was had by the board before it voted to approve the proposed amendments, although all board members had previously had detailed discussions on the issues with the steering committee, Hubbard said.

Also at the meeting, the board:

—Approved a request from the Skaneateles Girls Lacrosse Association to hold its third annual American flag display from Nov. 2 to 13 and a Veterans’ Day remembrance ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 12, in Shotwell Park.

—Approved the request of Endurance Monster to hold its second Monster Mash race on Saturday, Oct. 27, with portions of the race occurring on Fennell Street.

—Scheduled a meeting to review bids for the fire department air packs at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2 at village hall.

—Appointed Mark Roney to fill the Planning Board seat recently vacated by the resignation of Toby Millman.

—Authorized the use of the Xpress-pay system to allow village parking fines to be paid by credit card.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Skaneateles Press. He can be reached at [email protected].