A debate on whether or not to retain the architect firm of Beatty, Harvey & Associates, LLP (BHA) to stabilize St. Paul's will ultimately be decided by Garden City's new mayor and board of trustees, who will swear in at the April 4 annual organization meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Trustee John Mauk pulled the item March 17 for further discussion, which led to yet another lengthy debate despite the fact that another hole was recently found in the building's roof. But it wasn't business as usual. When Trustee Peter Negri made a motion to close the debate, it failed.

Although Mayor Barbara Miller and Trustees Jon Segerdahl and John Watras agreed with him, the remaining four trustees - Robert Rothschild, Peter Bee, Gerard Lundquist (mayor-elect) and Mauk - did not, leaving it deadlocked. According to the board of trustees' official rules and procedures, "motions to close or limit debate may be entertained but shall require a two-thirds vote." Mayor Miller could not break the tie on this one.

"I don't understand why we are trying to rush into retention of this architectural firm at this time without more exploration," Trustee Mauk told fellow board members, reminding them of the procedure undertaken when retaining the firm to complete the school bond construction program.

"A formal RFP [Request For Proposal] was put out. Firms were invited to issue proposals, make recommendations and indicate what their background and experience was and how they would undertake things."

Trustee Mauk continued, adding, "They went through a process of interviews with a number of people who have backgrounds in construction, architecture and engineering - people who could really ... make an assessment of which of the firms applying were most suited to undertake the work that was going to be done. None of that has been done here."

He meant no disrespect to Todd Harvey, who attended the March 17 meeting. "I think a lot of his experience and what he indicated himself has been in the area of library construction, which is the reason he was brought in here initially the first time around," Trustee Mauk said. "We're dealing with a very old building. We're dealing with something that requires people who have tremendous experience in this area. I'm sure Beatty, Harvey has experience in this area, but I know there are a lot of other firms in and around this area that also have considerable experience ... What is the urgency here? Quite frankly, I don't understand what the rush is."

More than happy to address Trustee Mauk's comments, Trustee Negri noted that the best background check was the experience the village had with both firms BHA and EYP (Einhorn Yaffee Prescott). "Our experience with EYP and Beatty, Harvey goes back a number of years and it's not simply based upon their references and sheets in a proposal but real, genuine experience," he said.

"Why the rush?" he further asked. "I really find it hard to imagine that we're rushing into anything, particularly when we're talking about doing something that would enable us to define the scope of work involved and obtain very precise numbers as to what this work would cost.

"As Trustee Watras has mentioned a number of times, we've got a patient that's sick. You could almost say he's dying. I don't know how long we need to wait until we take action. I would think that the four years of study - at least that I've been a part of - and the prior years of study, that it is time to address the patient. To sit back and debate and ask for more study again and again and again to me is a waste of time and will only achieve one result - the building will come down all by itself and I'm not prepared to do that. If you can call fours years of sitting on this board attacking the issue rushing, then yes, I'm in a rush."

BHA, the oldest architectural firm on Long Island, has completed more than 100 projects, many of which were not library-related. Defending the firm's broad experience with all sorts of renovation work, including the entire Molloy College campus, Harvey addressed the board. "I think we came and were introduced to you because we had done work on libraries, including some work with the Garden City Library, over the years but that is just a portion of what our firm does," Harvey explained.

A general architectural practice founded back in 1880, BHA, according to Harvey, has worked on almost every type of building, including office buildings, schools, Catholic seminaries and churches, among others. Harvey added that the firm has done a "tremendous amount of renovation work, working with the Environmental Protection Agency for the past 10 years essentially as their in-house architect doing renovation on all of their buildings, some of which are historic. "Most of the work involves restoration and renovation, re-roofing, window replacements and building repairs so our experience runs the gamut," Harvey further said.

Trustee Bee respectfully told Trustee Negri he missed the point, alluding to a comment made for any trustee to come forward if they favored demolition. "I don't think that you need to say that you're in favor of demolition in order to say that you're not prepared to go forward with a plan that you don't feel is adequately thought out," Trustee Bee said.

"Demolition may become the least poor choice and I fear that the day is rapidly approaching when that will be the case. But that something becomes the least poor choice hardly makes it the favored choice. I've said repeatedly that I am opposed to spending the money to stabilize the building unless we have a plan as to what to do with the building. We still don't have that plan."

Trustee Bee further believes it not unreasonable to leave the choice of whether to go forward with or without a plan and with which architect to the board that would have to deal with those consequences. In the past, he has publicly stated he hopes a way is found to save the building although he fears it might not. He volunteered to cost out the demolition option but reiterated he was never a proponent of demolition. "I simply said from two years ago that the day may come when we recognize that we haven't found a better alternative," he explained.

Trustee Segerdahl admitted a political issue does exist. "Absolutely. But as a board we did agree we wanted to save the building. What we don't agree on is when we are going to do that. There is a timetable here. We received an email from Mr. Schoelle today that there is another big hole in the roof. Those holes will continue, continue and continue until it comes down because of inactivity of this board to move forward. We have this sick patient. We need to move on it. We do not have much time until that decision will be made for us."