Select Board members oppose ordering a construction audit of the conversion of the former Oak Street elementary school into affordable housing, a project that was plagued by major cost overruns.
The work has added up to $1.2 million for three one-bedroom apartments to house seniors, veterans, or disabled people – more than twice the original budget of $475,000.
Last month, the Advisory and Finance Committee voted unanimously to ask the Select Board to order an audit.
But at Tuesday’s Select Board meeting, members were skeptical.
“I myself would like to know what this audit would cost,” said chair Richard Quintal. “And at the end of the day, what’s it going to prove?”
Quintal said that paying for an audit would amount to “throwing good money after bad.”
The Building Committee, tasked with reviewing what went wrong with the project, proposed the audit to the Advisory and Finance Committee.
Kevin Canty, vice chair of the Select Board, said having the Building Committee conduct its own review at no cost would be preferable to commissioning an outside firm “and throwing, let’s say, additional money after money already spent.” The result, he said, would be the same.
Canty has said that going forward, the town should not invest money in converting old buildings into housing because the work is too costly for the return it produces.
“I don’t think we should be spending any more money on the Oak Street project,” said member David Golden. “If we are to see a post-mortem on this project, it needs to be in-house.”
Board member Charlie Bletzer also balked at the idea of an outside audit.
“It’s going to cost a lot of money,” he said.
Only member John Mahoney remained open to commissioning an audit.
“I need to know whether we’re talking $2,000, $12,000, or $22,000” [for the audit], he said. “If we can get a decent audit for short money, I don’t have a problem considering that.”
Despite the discussion, the Select Board did not vote on the issue because it was not officially on the meeting agenda.
On Wednesday, Canty and Golden said they thought it was unlikely that the issue would come up for a vote.
Earlier in the week, electricians were still finishing work on the building. Chris Plourde, the Plymouth-Kingston-Duxbury Housing Authority’s assistant executive director, said it was working diligently to get tenants in as soon as possible.
Joseph Lalley, who serves on the Building Committee and the Advisory and Finance Committee, last month said the Housing Authority was aiming to open the building to tenants on Dec. 1.
Some 1,320 seniors and 187 veterans applied for the apartments. Plourde did not respond to a request for updated information Thursday.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.