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Village plans to renovate 3 Main St.

The village of Saranac Lake plans to renovate this building it owns at 3 Main St. (Enterprise photo — Jesse Adcock)

SARANAC LAKE — The village of Saranac Lake may be moving its offices back into 3 Main St. in the future.

On Monday night, the village Board of Trustees approved contracting with an engineering firm for drawing up plans for renovations to their old home. Also included in the contract is a plan to design an addition and renovation of the police department.

“As things stand now, we do believe we will be moving across the way as the most cost-effective move for the village,” said village Mayor Clyde Rabideau. “However, it’s still up to the Board of the Trustees after all the numbers come in.”

The village acquired the building at the south end of Main Street in 1986 and was based there for 25 years until 2011, when it leased the space to a biotech firm and moved a block away into the second floor of the Harrietstown Town Hall at 39 Main St.

The biotech firm, Myriad RBM, closed in 2014, but a smaller group formed by former employees took its place. Now that firm, Ampersand Biosciences, is moving to the former elementary school in Lake Clear, so the downtown space is opening up again.

The village is currently leasing the 2,861-square-foot second floor of Harrietstown Hall from the town for $2,688 a month, according to town Supervisor Mike Kilroy.

“We expected they weren’t going to stay here forever,” Kilroy said.

He added that maybe the county would be looking to rent the space. Before the village, the second floor of the town hall was leased by a state Supreme Court judge.

The building at 3 Main St., with the words “Power & Light” carved into the facade, was built in 1927 by Phelps Smith to house the Paul Smith’s Electric Light and Power and Railroad Company. Niagara Mohawk bought that company in 1966 and had offices in the building for 20 years before selling it to the village.

Under the current plan, the first and second floors of 3 Main St. would be renovated to accommodate the village offices. The space would be divided up into cubicles, along with conference spaces and boardrooms. Additionally, there would be a document storage area that requires thermal and moisture protection.

The contract with North Woods Engineering is not to exceed $83,000, according to village documents.

The project is designed to go to bid as soon as possible, the documents state. The projects would be split into two packages — with the first being the Main Street offices and the second the police department.

“It is our initial understanding that the project will not be subjected to Wick’s Law since the work for each bid package is estimated to be less than $500,000,” the North Woods contract states. “If, after receiving bids, the low bid exceeds $500,000, efforts to re-bid the project with multiple prime contracts will be considered an additional service.”

Wicks Law, when it applies, requires that government construction projects in New York get separate contractors to do general construction, plumbing, electrical work, and heating and ventilation. The law’s intent is to prevent corruption and get better prices.

North Woods states that it will prepare plans for the interior work ready to go to bid in 16 weeks of receipt of a signed contract. The police department addition and exterior improvements would be ready for bidding 21 weeks after receipt of a signed contract.

Rabideau said he estimates the village offices could move to 3 Main St. by the end of 2020 if the plans look good.

“But again, when the numbers come in, the board will make the decision,” Rabideau said. “But that’s the way reality is pointing, it looks like.”

The second package would include exterior improvements to the police department, an addition, re-roofing the police department wing, a covered staff entrance and another entrance for the police department board room.

Interior renovations would also be included. In the addition, an accessible toilet room would be added, along with a larger conference room with sound-rated movable partitions.

Saranac Lake Village Police Chief Chuck Potthast said he would welcome an addition to the department building beside 3 Main St. He said that currently, the department is cramped in the space that they have.

“We need a lot of storage and office space,” Potthast said.

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