By Amy Batista, Special Writer
HIGHTSTOWN — Roberts Engineering Group was hired last week by the municipality to provide project management services.
Rather for the reconstruction of Borough Hall or to pursue the council’s endeavor to bring temporary administrative and police facilities to the community via modules — the Hamilton firm has taken on a big project.
The old Borough Hall complex has remained closed since Hurricane Irene hit the town as a tropical storm in 2011.
The municipal staff has been operating out of the Public Works building in cramped quarters ever since. The Police Department relocated to rented space on Mercer Street.
Following the storm, council meetings are held at the First Aid Squad building. The Municipal Court operates out of Robbinsville.
And in hiring an engineering firm last week, the Borough Council selected a project manager and project engineer via two different votes during its Jan. 22 council meeting.
In a 4-3 vote, the council selected Carmela Roberts, borough engineer, as project engineer to bring municipal and police modules to town in addition to other project management services.
Council President Larry Quattrone and councilwomen Selena Bibens and Susan Bluth voted against the measure. It authorizes an agreement for professional surveying, engineering and permitting services not to exceed $94,000.
The council unanimously approved — 6-0 — a resolution appointing Dawson Bloom, of Roberts Engineering Group, as the project manager.
”It’s managing the process,” Mr. Bloom said. “That’s really what it is; what the specifics are. It’s taking the process from one point and getting it to the end point.”
He will provide services associated with temporary facilities for the restoration, renovation or construction of Borough Hall. According to the resolution, the cost for his services shall not exceed $277,500 without further approval.
Lexington Insurance is moving forward with the borough, estimating it will cost just under $2 million to either repair the existing Borough Hall building or to rebuild another one.
In the meantime, the council is seeking to find a better work place for its municipal employees — via modules.
Borough Administrator Mike Theokas said on Thursday, “(Lexington) has agreed that temporary facilities are part of the overall claim. We have just received bids for the trailers.”
The bids were due Jan. 30.
Mr. Theokas said that the bids would be discussed at the upcoming council meeting on Monday, Feb. 4. He also said the information would be sent to the insurance company for final approval.
Debra Sopronyi, borough clerk, told the Herald yesterday that she was waiting for the bids to arrive from the engineering company. They were not available by press time.
Last week, Ms. Roberts shared with the mayor and council an overview of what her company would be providing.
”This is a generalized management of putting the borough personnel into temporary facilities,” Ms. Roberts said. “Working with the insurance company and (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) to finalize numbers and then managing the remainder of all the work that would be necessary to get a permanent borough facilities up and running.”
According to Ms. Roberts, the proposal is divided into four different phases — pre-design, design, construction and close-out.
Councilwoman Gail Doran asked Ms. Roberts if there would be updates on the project at the council meetings so the public would be aware of what was happening as well as the council.
”I just wanted to make sure that there was something in the public record for the public to reference in terms of progress of the project,” Ms. Doran said. “I’m not talking about the entire project documentation. We roughly meet every two weeks. I am just talking about a status update — what’s new, has anything changed, is everything fine or not fine, that sort of thing.”
”It was assumed, and it was understood, we would be doing that for you,” Ms. Roberts said.
But Councilwoman Susan Bluth said she felt the resolution was “totally premature.”
”We haven’t signed on the dotted line before leasing the temporary facilities,” she said. “I just feel we are putting the cart before the horse with this resolution as well as the next one.”
Councilman Rob Thibault recalled it has been 2-and-a-half years since the town was hit by the hurricane, and he didn’t see a “downside” to the resolutions.
”It’s been 18 months since the hurricane . . . in crowded, substandard space,” Mr. Thibault said. “We will need a project manager. This resolution is up to contract; it is not a fixed rate contract. I don’t see any downside to getting this out of the way and focusing on the other things.”
Ms. Doran said she sought to clarify what a project manager meant and that it was the Borough Council making the decisions, not the project manager.
”There may be a misunderstanding to what a project manager is,” Ms. Doran said. “A project manager is not the person who makes the decision. The project manager is (the) person who makes the framework around in order to enable the decisions that the borough makes.”
Ms. Roberts confirmed the firm would “execute” council requests.
”This proposal that we put together was based on the understanding that we are going to be rebuilding to some degree or another the Borough Hall in the location that it is today,” Ms. Roberts said.
Mr. Theokas, borough administrator, updated the council on the communications needed for the new facility and plans to move that forward.
”We are going to connect with the hard lines in the police station, which will fix all of their issues they are having with their phones so they are not connected remotely anymore, which is important,” He said.
The borough advertised for bids for the modular buildings Jan. 11. According to Mr. Theokas, Mr. Bloom had a pre-bid meeting.
”I thought was well attended and well participated,” Mr. Theokas said. “We are on schedule with that process.”
”Eight to 10 vendors came to the meeting, expressing an interest,” Mr. Dawson said at last week’s Borough Council meeting.
He said he showed vendors the location of the temporary facilities and answered any questions they had.
”There is a lot of interest, and we are still getting quite a bit of feedback,” Mr. Dawson said.
”I seem just a little confused at what is going on Main Street with Borough Hall,” said local business owner Fran Colombo. “We have an engineer, Roberts Engineering, that’s going to put a plan together that’s going to say the building is going to be square, whatever else. You need to have some sort of designer that is going to say to you what you tell them what you want in that facility, what the borough needs on that parking lot.”
She said, “I don’t have a problem with Roberts Engineering overseeing the project. We’ve got too many apples in one cart. The one cart is Roberts Engineering. We do need somebody separate and apart from Roberts Engineering as a project manager to oversee our interests.”
Ms. Colombo wanted to know what the council’s intentions were.
”Are you building or are you not building?” Ms. Colombo asked. “If you made the decision that you are going to stay on North Main Street, well, then, that is where you are staying, then go forward from here. We can’t second-guess ourselves. We can’t put the cart before the horse after we made the decision we are doing it. You are approaching almost two years when a building that you are paying rent on is in foreclosure.”
She added, “Why, with 5,000 people in Hightstown, can’t we get Borough Hall up and running? It is ludicrous. It is shameful. Seven people can’t decide from one meeting to another to agree on the decision they made two weeks ago.”
Ms. Colombo suggested closing down the town if the council wasn’t going to put the residents’ and business owners’ interests forward.
”Main Street is already a ghost town,” she said. “We have nothing to drag into Main Street. There is no destination. We don’t know anything. What are we doing? If you are going to go forward on Main Street with Borough Hall, you need to have an engineer, you need to have a designer, and you need to have a project manager working for you.”
Planning Board member and licensed architect Rick Pratt also chimed in the public forum.
”It looks like you are involving the Planning Board early on which you didn’t do last time,” said Mr. Pratt as he waved a piece of paper in the air. “You asked us for an opinion, and last time you made a decision, and you didn’t want our opinion anymore so it looks like you’re actually looking to involve us early in the process.”
According to Mr. Pratt, the request for proposals and final site plan the Planning Board received was not the most up-to-date, and it already was out to bid as he held it up for the audience to see, noting it was the one the board received from Roberts Engineering.
”They didn’t want our opinion,” Mr. Pratt said.
According to Mr. Pratt, the Planning Board had 45 days to review and respond to the resolution and make comments that would go back to the council.
”Well, next meeting is after Jan. 30 when the bids are due for the trailers, so our opinion is really useless, right?” Mr. Pratt asked the council. “So what was the point in asking us for our opinion if you were already going to receive bids before we could make our recommend?”
Mr. Pratt continued, “Otherwise, we are wasting public money and drawing things that don’t meet building code.”
For instance, Mr. Pratt said that the council had provided its specific needs to the trailer companies instead of accepting what the companies are offering before putting them out to bid.
”You are spending money with no clue what you are doing,” Mr. Pratt said. “Maybe you should talk to the architect or construction official before you put it out to bid.”
He added, “Stop wasting your money with this ludicrous process. Start involving your commissions and your building department and people who know what they are doing. It’s OK to ask questions. You would gain more respect that way.”
At the end of the meeting, Ms. Bluth said, “It was a good point made about there are a lot of intelligent people on that Planning Board, and I really think we should consult with them more.”
The councilwoman continued, “It would help to lessen the animosity between us and them. We should get their opinions. They do have some good suggestions.”

