Alna Facilities Planning CommitteeBack to Meeting & Minutes Page Date: August 20,2007 Time: 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Location: Alna Fire House Meeting Minutes:
Alna Facilities Planning Committee
Meeting of August 20th, 2007, held at the Firehouse at 7 p.m.
Present: Tom Albee (TA), Nick Caristo (NC), Gordon Davis (GD), John Green (JG), Fred Gumkowski (FG), Kathy Pendleton (KP), Cliff Russell (CR)
Absent:
Also Present: Les Fossel, Billie Willard
The first order of business was the choice of a name for the committee, as none had been chosen when the Selectmen formed it, and at least two alternatives have been used since then. After a brief discussion, the decision was made to use “Alna Facilities Planning Committee”.
Next, NC and JG asked the members for individual interpretations of the results of the Special Town Meeting of the 11th of August, at which the petition article, sponsored by the Volunteer fire Department and authorizing the building of a new 5000 sq. ft. firehouse, was voted down. Impressions mentioned included:
· The town collectively did not seem to question the VFD’s need for additional and better-configured space.
· A major, possibly the major, factor in the defeat of the proposal seemed to be the price tag of roughly $500,000.
· Some citizens appeared to believe that getting rid of our fire facilities and contracting out coverage might solve the problem. (It was pointed out be several committee members that the resulting increase in response time would likely end up costing home owners more through increased fire insurance premiums than would be saved by not building and maintaining VFD facilities.)
· Overall, the result was seen as putting substantial pressure on the committee to come up with an alternative that will serve the town’s needs at a price the town can agree to pay.
This discussion was followed by Les Fossel’s presentation of the proposal he made public in the days just before the Special Town Meeting, in which he said that his firm could produce a building that would meet the VFD’s needs while costing between $290,000 and $326,000, depending on the details of size and configuration. This building would be constructed as an expansion of the existing firehouse toward the southern boundary of its lot. The addition would consist of a two-bay garage, with ceiling high enough to allow inside work on the trucks. A second story could be added to this addition to provide a town meeting room of roughly 1500 sq. ft. The space freed up in the existing bay area could be configured to serve other identified VFD needs. Significant savings would be realized by using existing architectural resources (about 15%) and by Les not charging a fee (about 20%). JG asked Les if he would be willing to provide support if the committee determined that stand-alone, new construction would be the optimal solution. Les replied that his firm restored and expanded existing structures and was not in the new-construction business. Almost the entire rest of the meeting was taken up with detailed discussion of the proposal.
The committee agreed to meet again on the 10th and 24th of September and to devote time at the first of those meetings to identifying a larger set of options than are currently on the table. Before that meeting the co-chairs will investigate the possibility of adding one or two members to the committee and will try to arrange a visit to the new firehouse in Jefferson, which is said to be the most cost-efficient of the several that have been constructed recently in the area.
The committee adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Cliff Russell
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