Rescue Squad Update

Hi, first I would once again request that we please try and keep the political back and forth and debates on the other threads. This thread was meant to provide updates on the project's progress, which get a bit hard for people to find when they get buried.

I expect to be able to announce some major news related to the project's timeline this week. (We just need to have some i's dotted and t's crossed before we announce things publicly).

We are about to move into the construction phase and as noted above we are asking for the public's help to raise the additional funds needed for the project. We have set a fundraising goal of $100,000.

Although the actual construction of the building appears to be roughly in budget, other related costs are costing much more than anticipated (site costs, closing costs, expenses related to appearing before the planning board, etc).

There are many items that are not officially part of the construction contract that we will need to spend a substantial amount of money on. These things (diesel exhaust removal systems, security/ key card access system, furniture and furnishings, etc) are what we need to raise the funds to purchase.

So we are asking individuals and businesses to sponsor different parts of the construction.

Larger donors can sponsor entire rooms, pieces of equipment or even ambulances.

Those interested in making smaller donations can sponsor bricks that will become part of the walkway to the building and tiles that will line the front entranceway.

The bricks and tiles will be laser engraved with text and logos that the donor specifies and will become a permanent part of the building's exterior.

As @mbaldwin mentioned above, we have teamed up with the crowdfunding site Crowdera.co and anyone interested in donating can visit:

https://crowdera.co/project/south-orange-rescue-squad-new-headquarters-building-project

You can also sponsor the bricks and tiles directly at http://www.polarengraving.com/SORescueSquad

The best thing you could do (aside from donating) would be to share these links via social media with your circle of friends. We are hoping to get this out to a wide audience so please share the links via facebook, twitter, etc. and help us spread the word.

Thanks,

Dan Cohen
Captain
South Orange Rescue Squad

Why wouldn't a 10% overage have been anticipated? Frankly, if that's all it is, I would be surprised. This kind of situation could have been avoided had Torpey known what he was doing or at least asked for help from those who do. Ego is such a dangerous thing.

jayjay, I would ask that you honor the request I made and keep the the political back and forth to the other threads.

Dan I am a supporter of the Rescue Squad and thank you for all you do. I will be supporting the building fund as well. I am not criticizing you but I really dont understand. I am a bit confused when you state --
There are many items that are not officially part of the construction contract that we will need to spend a substantial amount of money on. These things (diesel exhaust removal systems, security/ key card access system, furniture and furnishings, etc) are what we need to raise the funds to purchase.

How does that happen? Was this something the redevelopment attorney should have flagged? Like I said I dont know the whole process involved but how how are those items not officially part of the construction contract? (or process) When the developer deal was looked was it assumed that those items werent needed? They would seem to be a basic part of having a Rescue Squad building. Thanks

@soguy, the redevelopment attorney and Mr. Torpey are responsible for the budget failure. Mr.Torpey caused significant delay with his push to get a shelter on the second floor of the building. The redevelopment attorney should take the brunt of the criticism regarding the shortage of funds. Mr. Goldberg was the only trustee at the time to question the budget. The attorney gave a very generic answer, something to the effect that it should be enough. I'm sure someone can link the video for you. It's pretty a obvious that he blew it and did not do his job thoroughly. A detailed budget was warranted and was not produced at the time of questioning. The Rescue Squad should not have to do this. It's very unfortunate and just a small part of the Torpey legacy of failure.

When I somehow feel certain that the Village will not be asked to make up any of these shortfalls, then I will certainly be ready to make a donation. Unfortunately, I find it hard to feel that certainty, so continue to hang back.

Dan,

I still think that the BOT sold you guys done the river a bit on this.

Hey, how about this???

For every donation you get and the check clears the bank, the BOT matches it 1 for 1????

If so, you can pick up my check tomorrow.

Later, Da George

I, for one, think the BOT should donate 100k of our tax money to the Rescue Squad immediately.

There is simply no better return on the investment.

For every call they go on (in South Orange) a resident saves about 1000 bucks. Oh, and they are saving lives too.

I'm going to email every trustee and encourage them to do so. I encourage everyone else to do so as well.

I am happy to donate to the added cost once, but am (as of yet) unclear whether I will be doing so by an added donation, or by added taxation.

SODawg said:

@soguy, the redevelopment attorney and Mr. Torpey are responsible for the budget failure. Mr.Torpey caused significant delay with his push to get a shelter on the second floor of the building. The redevelopment attorney should take the brunt of the criticism regarding the shortage of funds. Mr. Goldberg was the only trustee at the time to question the budget. The attorney gave a very generic answer, something to the effect that it should be enough. I'm sure someone can link the video for you. It's pretty a obvious that he blew it and did not do his job thoroughly. A detailed budget was warranted and was not produced at the time of questioning. The Rescue Squad should not have to do this. It's very unfortunate and just a small part of the Torpey legacy of failure.

Wow.. I havent been paying attention. How do you approve any project without a detailed budget???? That is outrageous.

SOguy said:

SODawg said:

@soguy, the redevelopment attorney and Mr. Torpey are responsible for the budget failure. Mr.Torpey caused significant delay with his push to get a shelter on the second floor of the building. The redevelopment attorney should take the brunt of the criticism regarding the shortage of funds. Mr. Goldberg was the only trustee at the time to question the budget. The attorney gave a very generic answer, something to the effect that it should be enough. I'm sure someone can link the video for you. It's pretty a obvious that he blew it and did not do his job thoroughly. A detailed budget was warranted and was not produced at the time of questioning. The Rescue Squad should not have to do this. It's very unfortunate and just a small part of the Torpey legacy of failure.

Wow.. I havent been paying attention. How do you approve any project without a detailed budget???? That is outrageous.

Watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRnczU6CzDA

That is UNBELIEVABLE . thank you Michael. What is the name of the person speaking? How does he defend what happened?

He is Joe Baumann, Redevelopment Counsel for the Village.
http://www.msbnj.com/attorneys/joseph-p-baumann-jr/

"It's a big garage with a building on top" "it's not that complicated" "our sense is that it's enough".
Pretty damning evidence of a lack of due diligence. The attorney did not do the due diligence needed to determine if it was enough.
This should have woken up the remainder of the Board immediately. The redevelopment attorney went by his "senses". Just amazing.

That's what my old boss would refer to as a "fundamental misunderstanding that requires immediate attention."

Normally the necessary due diligence would be the Village Administrator's responsibility, with the input of subject matter experts. But, Torpey had such a heavy hand in managing this fiasco that the VA apparently has dodged this bullet.

Repeatedly, whenever Torpey has usurped the authority and responsibility of the Village's paid professionals, the consequences have been negative. Unfortunately, this time it's put the Rescue Squad in the difficult position of having to beg for money -- well beyond its usual annual efforts.

Dan - is there an updated rendering of what the bldg will look like? There were some features that seemed both costly and in bad taste

Examples included:

1. THE SIGNAGE. Not ar all in keeping with low key, traditional signqage on firehouse.

2. The tower. Seemed like a desperate attempt to ape the firehouse.

I'd like to make a donation, but not to a project that isn't consistent with the value of having an attractive built environment in the village.

You are not really donating to a building, right? If they addressed the issues brought up by the zoning board I'm happy. I am also glad to support an organization that does a lot of good. Keep complaining about how we got here, by all means. Meanwhile, here we are.

FilmCarp said:

You are not really donating to a building, right? If they addressed the issues brought up by the zoning board I'm happy. I am also glad to support an organization that does a lot of good. Keep complaining about how we got here, by all means. Meanwhile, here we are.

You miss my point.. We are here. We hired a professional to advise us. Lawyers are professionals and a professional duty to their clients. Malpractice means they failed in that duty. Malpractice when proved results in a settlement. Settlement offsets the cost. Who is Village Atty and why arent they looking at this?

Hi, Please excuse the long post. My requests to keep the politics to the other threads (and reserve this one for updates on the project) do not seem to have worked, but I respectfully again ask everyone to try and do that.

I will try to answer the questions posed as best as I can.

jayjayp said:

Why wouldn't a 10% overage have been anticipated?

While it is 10% over the amount of money that we were given, we knew form the moment the project was given to us that the amount provided would not be enough to fully fund the project. Fundraising was always part of the plan-- the question was just how MUCH we would need to raise. We were hoping that the overage would be closer to the $30,000 to $40,000 range... but we couldn't know just how much over we would be until the plans were basically complete and it was shopped around to different construction companies. The site costs that were anticipated to be in the $60,000 to $70,000 range came back at $161,400. Bonding /insurance cost $25,000. Fees associated with closing and appearing before the planning board were over $20,000. All of this added up quickly but even with all of that we will have roughly enough to complete the actual building. Unfortunately there are other major expenses that will need to be incurred (which I will get into below).

SOguy said:

I am a bit confused when you state -- There are many items that are not officially part of the construction contract that we will need to spend a substantial amount of money on... How how are those items not officially part of the construction contract? (or process) When the developer deal was looked was it assumed that those items werent needed?

The construction contract only covers the site and the actual building (walls, doors, windows, floor, etc). Basically if you take a building, turn it upside down and shake it, anything that falls out is not included. This includes some big ticket items like the exhaust removal system, furniture, appliances, key card access and security system, etc.

SOguy said:

When the developer deal was looked was it assumed that those items weren't needed?

The deal was made long before specific plans were drawn up for an actual building. When it was decided that our building would not be included in the 3rd and Valley project as originally planned, the amount they negotiated was payment for our old building. It was based on what they determined that the section of the development that our space would have taken up was worth.

Yes-- the redevelopment attorney famously stated that constructing a new building was "not that complicated" and his sense was that the $1.1 million would be "enough" to rebuild. I think many people thought the same thing, without having yet gotten into the details of what is actually needed for a Rescue Squad building. They were wrong, but the amount had already been determined based not on what it would might cost to build a new building-- but rather what the value of the space that was being freed up at 3rd and Valley would be. (The town was also getting a number of additional parking spaces in the parking garage due to us not being located in that space).
I should point out that this deal was between the Village and Jonathan Rose LLC. Although we provided input on what we would need in a building, we were not involved in any negotiations or deals because at that point the village was going to be doing the construction-- not the Rescue Squad.

ivan said:

is there an updated rendering of what the bldg will look like? There were some features that seemed both costly and in bad taste

No, although the changes that the planning board had requested have been made, other than their request about the specific windows on the garage doors. (That can not be sorted out until the builder selects a garage door manufacturer and we are able to see the types of windows that are available and the costs of each). The rendering was done very early in the process just as a rough visual representation of the building and it is not being updated. As for taste, I know that we can not make everyone happy with the look of the building and if we tried it would never get built. We were given a small lot that we could not change and a finite amount of money to work with. Much of the building can not be changed due to the specific needs of what has to be included. We have been very impressed with our architect, who managed to cram everything we needed into a space that is really not big enough to fit it all in. In another thread on this topic, someone posted pictures of Seattle's Firehouse #39, which is a beautiful firehouse. It also cost more than triple what our budget is. If we had over $3 million we could build a much different building. We don't.

Since it has gotten buried, I will post this again. To help us raise the money needed to complete this project, you can donate money and sponsor engraved bricks and tiles that will become a permanent part of the new building by going here:

https://crowdera.co/project/south-orange-rescue-squad-new-headquarters-building-project

You can also sponsor the bricks and tiles directly at http://www.polarengraving.com/SORescueSquad

The best thing you could do (aside from donating) would be to share these links via social media with your circle of friends. We are hoping to get this out to a wide audience so please share the links via facebook, twitter, etc. and help us spread the word.

Thanks,

Dan Cohen
Captain
South Orange Rescue Squad

@SORescue, you've articulately raised many good points. However, regardless of who would be rebuilding your building, it clearly was incumbent on the Village to obtain sufficient funding to replace your building and any contents that couldn't be moved.

Importantly, based on the available renderings and apparent set-back on Third Street, the developer always has planned to wrap the deck with usable space. So, by buying out the Village (and SORS), it's recaptured far more than a few parking spaces. For $1.1M, the develope has got to be smiling all the way to the bank, knowing it got the better end of this deal.

That said, every resident generously should support our volunteer rescue squad.

Seattle's firehouse 39 was also 3 times the size and contained an entry with a ton of glazing. I only showed the relevant portion of the structure. To repeat the redevelopment attorney, that portion of the building is a " just a garage, and not that complicated". Cramming all of the stuff in this building is not affecting the poor proportions, awful dormers, and Ill advised "tower" element. In addition, relative to your cost explanation, I hope your ventilation system is bolted into place. I would consider this to be a core cost of the structure.

The notion that the town negotiated the value of existing structure and not replacement cost is just crazy. Seriously nutty.

With little or no regard for the value of the land?

Here is the full view of Firehouse 39. I showed the right side of the structure. Big difference.

You don't have a rendering of what your building will look like based on the current plans? How can you build something you do not know what it will look like? There are things called computers that generate them pretty easily. Not having one suggests you do not want people to know what it will look like until it is too late.

If the village gave the rescue squad the land, you mean it didn't retain the right to approve the design of the building? I actually hope the building prominently displays Torpey's name on it to remind people of his legacy.

It's pretty normal to not update a rendering post planning board approval. The RS does not need to market like a developer would. ( though you could argue otherwise considering they need to raise money). The bottom line is that the building can't materially change once you have PB approval. The original rendering is pretty much what you will get.

But the planning board made some changes part of its approval. Now they will not show what those changes look like?

The architect will make the changes on the elevations in the document set. The assumption is that those were submitted. @ram, this thing was getting approved regardless of the changes. Plus, I hate to say it, but the changes made are not going to make any difference to the look and feel of the building. Dan and crew will have nice, new space to work in which is great, but the building will likely be a dog on the outside.

holy cow what a disaster.
when does construction start?