NEWINGTON - The newest Town Hall Project Building Committee got its first look at a DTC report, as well as the entire facility, while ruling out the possibility of a November referendum for work on the aged building.

       The Committee heard a presentation from DTC’s Graham Curtis-who outlined a slew of building issues that include a leaky roof, a lack of insulation, the presence of PCBs, and outdated electrical and HVAC systems-before walking the facility to see for themselves.

       The tour started with a walkthrough of the Board of Education’s third level, and continued with Facilities Director David Langdon leading the group of committee members, consultants, and Town Councilors everywhere from the dated Mortensen Community Center gymnasium to a leaky crawl space beneath the building.

       Its cost around $121,000 to operate the building through the first ten months of this year, according to Langdon.

       Last year, over $137,500 was spent in operating costs. Meanwhile, a DTC has outlined a $24.3 million renovation project budget that consultants say would alleviate many of the issues facing the building-which was built as a high school in 1950.

       â€�"Upgrading a lot of these systems will save us huge in operating costs,” said Committee Chair Chris Miner.

       The Committee has some work to do before determining whether or not they will go the renovation route, but it so far seems to the cheapest, with DTC projecting a $36 million cost to demolish the building and reconstruct it from scratch.

       There’s also a hybrid version, which involves a rebuilding some parts and renovating others-an approach that would fall somewhere in between the two price tags given, DTC says.

       The renovation route can bring solar energy, limited additional parking, and a new multipurpose room through a conversion of the current auditorium, Curtis said.

       The drawbacks would be a building close to its current size, which is less than ideal for space use and circulation, he said.

       During the tour, Langdon estimated that as much as 50 percent of the building is â€�"wasted space”, with offices squeezed into tighter pockets, while larger areas are left less than fully used-a byproduct of its school design.

       â€�"If you had to design a building from scratch, it wouldn’t be like this,” Curtis said during the meeting.

       No matter which way they decide to go, Committee members have expressed a desire to get the project going as quickly as possible, but with a wide community consensus on the direction.

       â€�"It can’t be, this section like it, and this section hates it,” Miner said. â€�"It’ll never go anywhere.”

       But the Committee is concerned with inflation, and DTC’s budget includes an anticipated 4.5 percent escalation per year. The Committee can expect a three year project timeframe, with the first dedicated just to the design phase, consultants said.