By JAMES MADDEN
CHARLESTOWN – The Diocese of Providence has again publicly indicated their willingness to fix the food pantry, but there’s still no guarantee repairs will be completed by the Nov. 1 deadline. The town has imposed this deadline, requiring the food pantry to meet building standards, or they will shut the pantry down.
According to Diocese Director of Communications Michael Guilfoyle, the diocese will use the most recent building report by Engineering Associate Services (EAS) to fix the building housing the St. Mary’s/St. James food pantry.
However, the diocese will only adhere to the repair recommendations of the EAS report — so long as contractor bids are close to EAS report estimates for the job – $5,000 to $6,000.
The diocese also said the contractor who repairs the pantry must agree to have at least $2 million worth of liability insurance.
Via email, Guilfoyle indicated that the Diocese Chief Financial Officer Mike Sabatino contacted Father Desmarais of the St. James Chapel (who owns the food pantry), after the Sept. 10 town council meeting.
He requested permission from Desmarais to solicit bids from at least three qualified contractors to perform the repairs as outlined in the EAS report.
Guilfoyle indicated the diocese is currently waiting for the contractor’s bids to come in. “While many have questioned the $2 million insurance requirement, one needs to look no further than one of our churches in East Providence that burnt to the ground during routine roofing maintenance,” Guilfoyle wrote. “Please know that we remain committed to the repairs as outlined in the most recent EAS report as stated at the Town Council meeting earlier this week.”
Michael Plunkett is the head public engineer with EAS, based in South Kingstown, who wrote the most recent engineering report for the food pantry.
This past Saturday, Plunkett gave four contractors interested in the food pantry job a tour of the building — pointing out the problem areas that need to be fixed.
“They’re going to put in their bids,” said Plunkett. “We’re hoping for them to come in sometime this week because Debbie [Deborah Nigrelli is the food pantry manager] has a deadline she’s got to worry about.”
“It is closer to getting done,” said Desmarais. “Hopefully we’ll get the bids by the end of this week.” Plunkett seems more confident a contractor will put in a reasonable bid, than he is a contractor will take on $2 million worth of liability insurance.
“It was an unrealistic thing to stipulate,” said Plunkett, who with 30 years of engineering experience, said there’s absolutely no way that a contractor should be required to have up $2 million of liability insurance for such a small project.
“I’ve worked on major power plants and sewage treatment facilities worth $100 to $200 million,” said Plunkett. He explained projects that size would warrant $2 million in liability insurance.
“This should have been a local project,” said Plunkett. Prior to the recent request for bids, local volunteers were lining up to donate materials, and labor to fix the pantry, said Plunkett.
Plunkett said with a formal bidding process, the cost of the project could go up slightly.
“I’m not too sure what the cost is going to be, but it should be somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000 – no more than $10,000,” said Plunkett.
Despite the requirements the diocese has imposed, Plunkett thinks the repairs will ultimately get done.
“I think it’s going to get done. You know why I think it’s going to get done… It’s because of the media. I think when Debbie went to the newspapers, that put the spotlight on the church, and now the church isn’t going to want all the attention considering all the other problems they have.”
While residents wondered about repairs, rumors swirled that the diocese was trying to sell off the pantry property.
Both the diocese and Desmarais said the property in question is owned by the parish and that if the land were sold, all the money would go to the parish.
Desmarais said there’s no plans to sell the land. “To sell that property would be like shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Desmarais. He explained the parish, if anything, is considering expanding the site — possibly tearing down the food pantry and building a new parish center.
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