cheshirecitizen.com
Volume 6, Number 45
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Estimates to fix police station mold problem exceed budget By Michael Gagne Record-Journal staff
As police Chief Neil Dryfe led a reporter through the Cheshire Police Department’s headquarters, Aug. 22, toward the building’s lower level, the air grew noticeably muggy. Dryfe walked past a few dehumidifiers that had been located throughout the
building. “You can see from walking around there’s water spots, mold, this hallway in particular,” Dryfe said, pointing toward ceiling panels. An early estimate projected the total cost to replace the building heating, ventilation and air conditioning system and to enlarge the women’s locker room would be much
greater than originally projected. After the Town Council had requested fast-tracking the work, architecture firm Silver / Petrocelli and Associates last week floated two options to replace the HVAC Police Chief Neil Dryfe gives a tour of the Cheshire Police system and the architectural Department headquarters on Highland Avenue. Dryfe improvements, one at a points out ceiling panels along the building’s basement $875,000 cost and a second level damaged by mold and moisture.
See Mold, A15
Some capital requests would require voter approval
New Hartford HealthCare building to open soon
By Michael Gagne Record-Journal staff
By Michael Gagne Record-Journal staff
Dr. Niamey Wilson is among the doctors who will soon be seeing patients at Hartford HealthCare’s new two-floor 50,000-square-foot health center at 280 S. Main St. when it opens this fall. “It’s wonderful to be able to provide this kind of care in the setting we have in Cheshire,” said Wilson, also a town resident. Wilson, director of Breast Surgery Quality & Research for the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute, was referring to the type of medical care some patients assume is only available at large city-based hospitals. “I know I can provide the highest quality breast care to patients and I don’t have to be in a big city or hospital to do that,” Wilson said. Work began on the project — previously estimated to cost $15 million — last year.
Michael Gagne, Record-Journal
The new Hartford HealthCare building is nearing completion on South Main Street. Photos by Dave Zajac, Record-Journal
Hartford HealthCare is the building’s tenant. Cheshire Medical Associates LLC, a subsidiary of Casle Corporation in Avon, is the building’s owner and the entity with which the town has agreed to a seven-year tax abatement agreement. Under the agreement, which will become effective once town officials sign off on a certificate of occupancy, Cheshire Medical Associates would receive a tax reduction of 50% of the building’s assessed value. Town property records currently list that assessed value as a little more than $6.2 million. The building appears close to completion. Earlier this week, contracSee Hartford Healthcare, A3
Of the 40 proposed capital projects Town Council members discussed on Tuesday night, Aug. 20, at least six would require the approval of town voters on the November ballot. Those projects include $310,000 to upgrade security in school and municipal buildings. Voters will also decide whether to fund $1.7 million in road improvements and a $1.8 million project to repair the West Johnson Bridge. A state Department of Transportation inspection of the bridge revealed a vertical crack in a beam above one of its abutments. Including the referendum items, the town’s capital budget request for this fiscal year totals more than $11.5 million. At a special meeting Aug. 27, the council was expected to adopt that capital budget, approve the See Projects, A2