Bandshell work to commence May 1; July 4 opening planned

Contractor and clerk of the works Tom LaMere reviews construction plans with some of the people who will be involved with the building of the  new bandshell in Flanders Park at a construction meeting in the village office early last week.  From left standing are Excavating Contractor Mark “Chip” Lemieux, Trustee Ron LaScala, Electric Superintendent Marc Save, and Excavating Contractor Adam Boudreau.  Sitting at the board table were Trustee Clint Hollingsworth, Code Enforcement Officer Pete Edward and Engineer Kurt Bedore. (Photo by Katie Stuart)

by Dan McClelland
The pouring of the foundation of the new bandshell in the Flanders section of the Tupper Lake Municipal is expected to take place on or about May 1, with the arrival of the timber peg framework and such about May 15.
The foundation will be poured by Moore's Flatworks and Foundations LLC, which was the lone bidder on recent village bids for the project. The firm bid $20,933 for all labor and construction  of forms for the foundation pour.
The village last fall awarded the contract for constructing the post and beam style frame to New Energy Works of Farmington, N.Y. for $76,890. The bid amount includes $70,960 for the construction of the framework, constructed of Douglas Fir and $5,930 for tongue and groove roof decking of the same wood.
With the wooden beams of the new performing arts structure will come a crane and crew from the timber frame contractor.
Once the skeleton is in place, the Lions Club volunteers and supporters in the community will devote a number of  days to roofing the bandshell, and installing the glass sides and storage-room rear area.  That work is expected to take place in the final weeks of May.
The construction schedule is, of course, based on the weather.
The excavation of the foundation area will be tackled by the village crew prior to the May 1 start and the electric crew will run new electric lines to the site to provide both temporary power for the building crews and for the electrical system that will be installed.
The crew will also install the 200-amp service in the structure and the on-site lighting planned, much of which will be at ground level.
Final details for the construction of the new building on the Raquette Pond shoreline at the base of Mill Street came together last Monday at a construction meeting of the various players, hosted by Community Developer Melissa McManus at the village.  Those who attended or who connected via conference call included Trustees Clint Hollingsworth and Ron LaScala,  General Contractor Tom LaMere,  Electric Department Superintendent Marc Staves, Adam Boudreau of Kentile Excavating, Mark “Chip” Lemieux of Lemieux Excavating, Engineer Kurt Bedore, Code Enforcement Officer Pete Edwards, Village Clerk Mary Casagrain, Lions Club President Dan McClelland,  Meaghan Lynch   from Terrain, a landscape architectural firm from New York City and bandshell designer Andrew Chary.
The plan is to have the transformation of the park area below Martin St. completed, for the most part, for an Independence Day opening of the new performance venue.
Contractor Tom LaMere has offered to oversee the bandshell construction. Tom is an active member of the Tupper Lake Lions Club that led the successful $40,000 fundraising campaign this past year that is part of the local share of the state grant won by the village from the state department of state to build the new performance park  with wide seating tiers down  from the Martin St. area to the shoreline area where the bandshell will be situated.
In front of the shell will be a 1,050 square foot dance area constructed of two-inch thick stone from Champlain Stone of Fort Ann. Engineer Kurt Bedore, who did much of the site work for the project and soil testing,  was able to secure the stone for the project at a fraction of the normal cost.
Mike Donah  has donated the services of  his Adirondack Fireplace company to lay the stone. The rectangular pieces will be floated in what is called “polymer sand.”  
The meeting last Monday began with a briefing by Mrs. McManus and Village Clerk Mary Casagrain of the village's procurement policies and bidding requirements. Also reviewed was the department of state's change order policy.
Andrew Chary was assigned to contact Phil Moore of Moore's Flatworks to insure everything was on track for the early May pour.
In the event the firm cannot fulfill its bid commitment, Mr. Chary was empowered by the group to contact a new concrete finisher that is currently working in the area.
Tupper Lake excavators Adam Boudreau and Mark Lemieux have both agreed to donate their talents and their firms' machinery to a major part of the project- the reshaping of the landscape there and new drainage.
It was noted there may not be enough fill on site to create the tiered seating areas in front of the bandshell and so arrangements will be needed by the village to bring in extra fill.  It will be trucked there in village trucks with village operators.
Mrs. Casagrain reported  the village currently has contracts with Paul Mitchell Stone Products and with Upstone Materials,  the company that last year purchased the Graymont Material company for sand and stone materials.
Engineer Bedore reported that his five foot deep boring tests at the bandshell site revealed nine inches of topsoil, twenty inches of loam and clay at 30 inches.  They hit ground water at 32 inches, he reported.
Pete Edwards said the site is both solid and well-drained so there should be a problem with heaving from the frost.
Mrs. McManus urged all those involved in the community project to keep close track of their hours, machinery hours and material purchases as all qualify as local contributions in the overall state grant funding of the major share of the project.