Grounds & Buildings Bids and Progress Updates!

Canaan Meeting House - Repair to the Clock Tower

In March, the Town requested proposals from 15 contractors including three from Canaan to submit proposals for repairs to the Meeting House tower. Many of the posts are rotted and there are several beams which were cut about a hundred years ago resulting in some structural weakness and shifting in the tower.

Proposals were received on April 17th and reviewed by the Board of Selectmen on the 24th and the Meeting House Preservation Committee on the 26th. Proposal ranged in price from $42,000 to $127,500 The consensus of the two bodies was to short list the bidders to two companies at this time which include Aaron Allen from Canaan and Harvest Construction from Hartford, Vermont.

The meeting that had been set up with both of these vendors for May 7th has been reset to happen on Tuesday May 15 at 5 PM at the Canaan Fire Station to interview both together, evaluate the strengths of their companies and proposals and to hopefully make a decision on the contractor that will be retained. The meeting will be open to the public. It is likely that the Preservation Committee will be seeking additional contributions to complete this work.

Senior Center

The Mascoma Senior Center needs a new elevator installed to allow for legal use of the second floor. The project will require both carpentry services to make the space larger and new elevator equipment.

All Ways Accessible has been retained by the Town to provide the Elevator Equipment and Bill Souza of Orange has been selected to do the carpentry work around and under the elevator. Purchase orders have been executed and the scheduling is up to Mascoma and the contractors. It is anticipated that this work will be completed this summer. The total cost will be about $30,000.

Williams Field Playground

Bids were received on the new playground equipment for Williams Field on April 9th. Two companies responded with very good proposals. Miracle and O'Brien and Sons submitted plans and costs for the range of equipment specified. Each vendor had strengths and weaknesses with O'Brien having the best toddler equipment and Miracle having the best ten and pre-teen equipment. Both proposals were within budget and final negotiations between the two companies will be held on May 7th at the Canaan Fire Station at 7 PM. We would like to complete this project no later than mid-summer.

New Water Meters

In March, bid requests went to three vendors for the provision and installation of new radio read water meters. These meters are necessary to take monthly water usage readings so that we can advise customers when their water usage suddenly increases dramatically and when. We can also look for small flows in homes that run constantly due to dripping faucets or toilets that continue to trickle. We will let homeowners know so that they can save money on their water bills. In addition, the new meters will give the Town accurate usage information for the first time on nearly twenty units that have no meters. The new meters are part of accurately assessing the new water and sewer charges and basing the charges on actual use as required by NH Department of Environmental Services. We will also be comparing the metered water that is billed with the actual water passing through the water mains on each leg of the system so that we can identify leaks in the water mains. After meeting with both companies, the Town awarded the contract for the meters to Stiles Company of Norwood, MA and the contract for the equipment installation to M2 of Exeter, NH. We will also be installing new automatic flushing hydrants on the ends of the lines to keep lines free of turbidity from rust. All meters should be installed by the reading that will be taken in September for the October bill.

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