By David Porter

Employees at the town’s crumbling public works building won’t be moving to temporary locations by an October 1 target date set by the Town Council earlier this year, as officials continue to pursue the complicated task of finding sites that can accommodate the department’s specific needs while ensuring uninterrupted day-to-day operations as a project to build a new DPW headquarters moves ahead. 

At Monday night’s council meeting, Town Manager Paul Bockelman outlined four options currently under consideration for the temporary relocation of DPW employees:

• Moving employees to the now-vacant Wildwood elementary school
• Building a temporary structure at the Ruxton site in North Amherst that could be used for other purposes after a new DPW site is completed
• A new structure adjacent to the current DPW building on West Street, which would serve as the new headquarters when finished; the current building would then be demolished
• Moving employees to multiple sites, which Bockelman said was the “least appealing” of the options

The third option was proposed by Weston & Sampson, the Reading-based engineering and environmental consulting firm that has been selected to design the new DPW building, a project with a current price tag of $35 million. While Bockelman called the proposal “intriguing” and noted that this option would effectively eliminate the need to move employees twice, he added that there were questions about whether there is enough space at the site to accommodate both while conducting daily DPW activities.

Building a structure at the Ruxton site, a former sand and gravel pit now used for municipal storage, wouldn’t be completed before the end of 2026, Bockelman said. He added that moving the town’s recreation department, which is dwarfed by the DPW in terms of size and complexity, into two classrooms at Wildwood recently required a concerted effort to plan and execute.

“This is a complex undertaking because not only are we relocating a giant department, one of the largest in the town, but they still have to meet their operational requirements,” he said. “Whatever, whenever it is, they still have to conduct the duties that they have to maintain during the course of the workday. So, being able to do their jobs while we’re relocating takes a lot of planning … We do prioritize moving our employees out of that building as quickly as possible, especially before the winter, if we can.”

Bockelman didn’t offer a tentative timeline for when a temporary location would be finalized. 

Weston & Sampson is the same firm that produced a 2016 report for the town on the state of the DPW building. The study concluded the structure was “outdated, undersized, and functionally deficient,” and found numerous structural cracks in the masonry, a decaying roof and minimal or nonexistent insulation. DPW employees have spoken of water dripping through electric light fixtures, rampant mold and poor ventilation that sometimes forces employees to go outside to avoid fumes 

Traffic and Parking at the New Elementary School

In other news, the council discussed anticipated parking and traffic issues at the new elementary school on the Fort River site. Parking will be limited until at least the end of the year while the former school is torn down, and there will be limited ingress and egress due to the ongoing work. Employees will be encouraged to park at nearby locations, including the former East Street school and vacant lots off Route 9 and the northeast corner of Main and South East streets. Also, parents will be encouraged to have their students ride the buses, rather than drop them off, to reduce traffic.