Not only have the long stretches of sunny skies and mild temperatures benefitted Duxbury beachgoers, the weather has helped put construction of the new police building months ahead of schedule.

Duxbury Police Chief Matthew Clancy credits the excellent weather and an even better team with ensuring the rapid pace of construction. “The contract with [Castagna Construction] on this project gives it until the end of March,” said Clancy. “With the extremely favorable weather conditions, they’ve maintained an aggressive schedule… The superintendent for Castagna at the site has been the driving force. His goal is to have us in the end of December.”

That superintendent, Bruce Tobin, can be found on the Mayflower Street site, checking the team’s punch list and even taking the controls of the frontend loader to clear debris himself. Reluctant to climb off of the truck and politely impatient to get back to work, he took a few minutes to note that as proud as he is of his crew, experience has taught him not to make predictions about such a massive project.

“Masonry is going up and the structural skeletons are going up, that will happen all the way through the end of the month,” said Tobin. “So far, no delays, but we’ve got to keep it moving. I’m never going to say I’m ahead of schedule. It can all turn on a dime.”

Tobin said the weather was a major factor in their progress, but he said Duxbury workers’ professionalism shares equal credit.

“The town’s been great,” said Tobin. “The building inspector’s been fantastic. Everybody’s working together.”

Clancy agreed. He said having that kind of professionalism on the all-volunteer Public Safety Building Committee has had a huge influence on moving the project forward. To have an engineer like chair Andre Martecchini, a principal engineer at SEA Consultants, and designer Dennis Nolan, who spent 45 years in the architectural field before retiring, be resources the town can tap into has not only saved time, but money.

Martecchini echoed the chief’s opinion of the project and admitted he’s been pleasantly surprised by the astonishing progress.

“We would love to have that nice Christmas present,” said Martecchini of the soft deadline for December. “It’s going to be a wonderful project for the town. We’re doing the best we can for the town.”

That cooperation and goodwill extends beyond the construction company and the town to the neighbors of the building site.

Said Martecchini, “The neighbors have been very good when it comes to noise issues. We’re trying to keep the start time to a 7 a.m. schedule. We really appreciate the neighbors’ understanding.”

Nolan, who visits the site once or twice a week to stay on top of developments, believes keeping such a tight schedule will benefit taxpayers as well.

“We hope to bring it in on time and under budget,” said Nolan. “It’s a good contractor, good set of plans by the architect [the Carell Group], a good superintendent, he’s got a tremendous amount of experience, and we’ve got a good building committee team.”

More than that, said Nolan, the support and participation from Town Hall has made all difference. He noted Scott Lambiase, the Inspectional Services Director, and Town Manager Richard MacDonald have been hands on.

“It’s a good team,” said Nolan. “From Richard MacDonald, with his experience as a building commissioner, down to me, the low guy on the totem pole.”

For Clancy, the move into the new police building can’t come soon enough for his department. Multiple system failures in the existing police building – from nonexistent air conditioning on the second floor to leaks in the holding cells pouring into the basement -- have made it a challenging work environment.

Said Clancy, “In the last couple of months, I’ve become even more appreciative of the voters approving this project.”