NEWINGTON - The Town Council is going forward with a $27,500 engineering study that will be conducted by Hamden-based DTC, the firm enlisted to provide a second opinion on the structural integrity of the Town Hall building.

       The engineering study was approved unanimously at the Council’s Jan. 12 regular meeting. At under $30,000, the price tag fit within the parameters to allow the town to skip the competitive bid process.

       A separate cost consultation--a $16,500 service also to be provided by DTC--will be voted on when the Council reconvenes this coming Tuesday. The Council is entertaining the consultation as means to comparing the price of renovating the existing Town Hall versus constructing a new building.

       The $27,500 will come from the town’s building fund, but the tabled $16,500 was unexpected, said Councilor David Nagel, who, along with Councilor Beth Delbuono, suggested tabling the vote on the cost consultation.

       They had also expressed concern regarding the $27,500, but put their support behind the motion to approve it after learning that it would be sourced from the building fund.

       Councilor James Marocchini asked if the Town Hall Project Building Committee could be assembled within the next two weeks if the engineering study was to be tabled. Although the Council does not technically have to go through the Committee to make the decision, Councilors expressed a desire to have them weigh-in.

       â€�"We’ve been waiting way too long in my eyes,” Marocchini said. â€�"I’d rather go forward with this, but if the consensus is to wait, can we get the Building Committee together to go over this?”

       Such a scenario is unlikely, Facilities Director David Langdon told the Council. The last Town Council kept the current committee intact--noting relevant professional experience members have, as well as their familiarity with the project--leaving the new group of Councilors to decide whether or not to form a new one.

       Town Hall staff, councilors and committee members have lamented a string of delays that includes a failed referendum in September of 2014, and the more recent rejection of a $34 million demolition and rebuild proposal. The concern is that the longer it takes to get going, the more expensive the project becomes, Langdon said.

       â€�"Cost goes up every year for doing new construction or renovation,” Langdon said. â€�"It doesn’t go down. It doesn’t plateau. It continues to rise. It could be a month, it could be a year. This start here, I think, is worth it, to get this project going.”

       The engineering study and cost consultation is intended to serve as a comparison between the structural integrity analysis and price estimates provided by project architect Kaestle Boos, which projected that renovating the current building, with the inclusion of a Parks and Recreation-sought double gymnasium, would run for close to $45 million.

       Whether or not to renovate or pursue new construction was the subject of heated debate throughout public hearings held last year. The Council hopes that DTC’s guidance can help settle that.

       â€�"This problem has been with us for a long time,” said Mayor Roy Zartarian. â€�"I hope this is the Council that gets it off dead center.”