Building Talk

At the end of last night's informal Common Council meeting, Alderman Kamal Johnson asked for an update on John L. Edwards, which some would like the City of Hudson to acquire as a new location for City Hall, the Youth Department, the Daycare Center, and the Code Enforcement Office. He was told by Council president Tom DePietro that the request for proposal (RFP) for the feasibility study was being worked on. DePietro went on to say, "The county has given up on their interest [in the building]."



Today, the Register-Star reported that the Columbia County Board of Supervisors is looking to enter into a contract with EMG, a company headquartered in Maryland, to conduct building assessments on six buildings owned by the county "so the county can make a capital projects plan and determine how much to budget for each building": "Supervisors to vote on county building assessment contract." Four of the six buildings in question are in Hudson. They are 610 State Street, 401 State Street, 560 Warren Street, and 15 North Sixth Street. The first three buildings are historic buildings, each more than a hundred years old. The fourth is only about twenty years old.

Supervisor Ron Knott (Stuyvesant), who chairs the Board of Supervisors Public Works Committee, is quoted in the article as saying, "Some of the maintenance on these buildings has been put off over the years. For years, we've talked about moving different places, including the Walmart building, but never did that." The article goes on to say that Knott wants the assessment "to show the county what it may cost to keep the old buildings in Hudson, make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and more energy efficient."

The study will cost $27,620. The resolution authorizing the assessments was to be considered at a special meeting of the Board of Supervisors Public Works Committee tonight, then at a special meeting of the Finance Committee also tonight, and finally at the monthly meeting of the Board of Supervisors at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
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