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County utilizes Ockawamick school: storage
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| The former Ockawamick School on Route 217 in Claverack is currently being used for storage by Columbia County. Robert Ragaini/Hudson-Catskill Newspapers |
By Francesca Olsen
Since the county resolved to purchase the One City Centre building in Hudson this summer, renovations and work surrounding Ockawamick have been put to a halt, but the old school building is still getting put to good use as a storage facility.
The first items sent to Ockawamick after the county bid on One City Centre were lever voting machines for Hudson and Kinderhook, previously stored at Mabey’s Moving and Storage; this was announced by the Board of Elections at the August meeting of the Board of Supervisors County Government Committee.
Ballot Marking Devices (non-lever voting machines) will also be transported to Ockawamick, according to Democratic Election Commissioner Virginia Martin. “We really don’t have room anymore (at the Board of Elections),” she said, “and there’s a lot of room at Ockawamick.”
Now, 240 cases of copy paper from the county Central Services Department will make its way to Ockawamick, divided into six pallets with 40 cases on each pallet.
“We’re going to store some copy paper there,” said David Ames, purchasing agent for Central Services. “Were going to try this, and see how it works out.”
Ames said that the copy paper, at about 50 pounds a case, must be lugged up from the basement of 401 State Street, where central services is located, every time it is needed.
Central Services provides copy paper and other supplies to nearly every county department. Ames said he plans to distribute the paper directly from Ockawamick as needed.
“We want to bring it up and down the stairs as little as possible,” he said, adding that right now, he doesn’t plan to store anything else from central services at the old building.
“The big ticket item is the paper. It’s bulky, it’s time consuming, and it’s a tax on the DPW (Dept. of Public Works) crews to move that around.”
Public Works Commissioner David Robinson told the building and facilities committee Monday that Central services will store supplies at Ockawamick. “It helps get some use out of that building, too,” he said.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, said as far as he knew, the county had no immediate plans to store anything else at Ockawamick.
“As far as records are concerned, not that I’m aware of,” he said. “As part of the long term records management plan, we would look to Ockawamick to be a facility to handle record storage, as well as other materials.
“It’s dry. At this point, we’re obviously not heating the building, but it’s dry storage. It’s good for a lot of different material to be stored there.”
Negotiations are ongoing regarding the potential county purchase of One City Centre. Baer said the offer was “still in the hands of the bank to determine what they’re going to do with our proposal. We’re trying to get some action.”
Until the county knows whether its bid has been accepted or not, renovations and other work on Ockawamick have been put on hold. Robinson said Monday that two architectural firms have been whittled down from an original list of nine; the committee won’t make a final selection until they know if the county’s bid will be accepted for One City Centre.
“If the county purchases One City Centre, this will significantly change the scope of work for the architect. Therefore, it is better to negotiate the scope and fee for the project before the contract is executed,” reads the September Building and Facilities Committee agenda prepared by Robinson.
Baer said that if the One City Centre deal doesn’t pan out, he doesn’t know where the Department of Social Services would go. The county resolved to purchase One City Centre with the plan of moving county offices there, leaving room for DSS to operate in the county office buildings at 401 and 610 State Street in Hudson.
“We have some different options there,” he said. “There’s still the option of 610 becoming a larger service center for DSS...a good portion of it would still go to Ockawamick. We’re still optimistic that this proposal will be accepted and that that will not be necessary.”
“It’s difficult to respond, because I’m not really sure they’re even in the running with One City Centre,” said Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera. “If they are, I guess it’s all moot. I think what we need to do is get back and start having civil discussions as to what is the best place in the city of Hudson for the Department of Social Services.
“It’s just a matter of discussing where to look at it,” Scalera said. “Anything other than that is simply a band-aid approach.”
Pyramid Brokerage Company, the firm in charge of the sale of One City Centre, said that no decision on the property has been made. Fred Gignac, the broker in charge of the listing, said Pyramid has received a number of letters of intent on the property “from various interested parties.”
“There’s a lot of interest displayed by the letters of intent we have, but there’s no way you could consider it sold,” he said.
The county purchased the 77,000 square foot Ockawamick School building in October 2008 for $1.5 million. The building sits on 24 acres in Claverack.
***
To reach reporter Francesca Olsen call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail folsen@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit www.registerstar.com.
The first items sent to Ockawamick after the county bid on One City Centre were lever voting machines for Hudson and Kinderhook, previously stored at Mabey’s Moving and Storage; this was announced by the Board of Elections at the August meeting of the Board of Supervisors County Government Committee.
Ballot Marking Devices (non-lever voting machines) will also be transported to Ockawamick, according to Democratic Election Commissioner Virginia Martin. “We really don’t have room anymore (at the Board of Elections),” she said, “and there’s a lot of room at Ockawamick.”
Now, 240 cases of copy paper from the county Central Services Department will make its way to Ockawamick, divided into six pallets with 40 cases on each pallet.
“We’re going to store some copy paper there,” said David Ames, purchasing agent for Central Services. “Were going to try this, and see how it works out.”
Ames said that the copy paper, at about 50 pounds a case, must be lugged up from the basement of 401 State Street, where central services is located, every time it is needed.
Central Services provides copy paper and other supplies to nearly every county department. Ames said he plans to distribute the paper directly from Ockawamick as needed.
“We want to bring it up and down the stairs as little as possible,” he said, adding that right now, he doesn’t plan to store anything else from central services at the old building.
“The big ticket item is the paper. It’s bulky, it’s time consuming, and it’s a tax on the DPW (Dept. of Public Works) crews to move that around.”
Public Works Commissioner David Robinson told the building and facilities committee Monday that Central services will store supplies at Ockawamick. “It helps get some use out of that building, too,” he said.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, said as far as he knew, the county had no immediate plans to store anything else at Ockawamick.
“As far as records are concerned, not that I’m aware of,” he said. “As part of the long term records management plan, we would look to Ockawamick to be a facility to handle record storage, as well as other materials.
“It’s dry. At this point, we’re obviously not heating the building, but it’s dry storage. It’s good for a lot of different material to be stored there.”
Negotiations are ongoing regarding the potential county purchase of One City Centre. Baer said the offer was “still in the hands of the bank to determine what they’re going to do with our proposal. We’re trying to get some action.”
Until the county knows whether its bid has been accepted or not, renovations and other work on Ockawamick have been put on hold. Robinson said Monday that two architectural firms have been whittled down from an original list of nine; the committee won’t make a final selection until they know if the county’s bid will be accepted for One City Centre.
“If the county purchases One City Centre, this will significantly change the scope of work for the architect. Therefore, it is better to negotiate the scope and fee for the project before the contract is executed,” reads the September Building and Facilities Committee agenda prepared by Robinson.
Baer said that if the One City Centre deal doesn’t pan out, he doesn’t know where the Department of Social Services would go. The county resolved to purchase One City Centre with the plan of moving county offices there, leaving room for DSS to operate in the county office buildings at 401 and 610 State Street in Hudson.
“We have some different options there,” he said. “There’s still the option of 610 becoming a larger service center for DSS...a good portion of it would still go to Ockawamick. We’re still optimistic that this proposal will be accepted and that that will not be necessary.”
“It’s difficult to respond, because I’m not really sure they’re even in the running with One City Centre,” said Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera. “If they are, I guess it’s all moot. I think what we need to do is get back and start having civil discussions as to what is the best place in the city of Hudson for the Department of Social Services.
“It’s just a matter of discussing where to look at it,” Scalera said. “Anything other than that is simply a band-aid approach.”
Pyramid Brokerage Company, the firm in charge of the sale of One City Centre, said that no decision on the property has been made. Fred Gignac, the broker in charge of the listing, said Pyramid has received a number of letters of intent on the property “from various interested parties.”
“There’s a lot of interest displayed by the letters of intent we have, but there’s no way you could consider it sold,” he said.
The county purchased the 77,000 square foot Ockawamick School building in October 2008 for $1.5 million. The building sits on 24 acres in Claverack.
***
To reach reporter Francesca Olsen call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail folsen@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit www.registerstar.com.
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