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Alna Facilities Planning Committee

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Date: June 12,2007

Time: 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Location: Town Office

Agenda/Description:

Meeting Minutes:

Alna Facilities Planning Committee


Meeting of 12 June 2007, Town Office, 7 p.m.



Present: Tom Albee (TA), Nick Caristo (NC), Gordon Davis (GD), John Green (JG), Fred Gumkowski (FG), Brian Lawrence (BL), Kathy Pendleton (KP), Cliff Russell (CR).




  1. The committee organized itself to the extent of electing as co-chairs NC and JG. CR volunteered to take notes and produce minutes of meetings.

  2. The early part of the meeting was taken up with a discussion of the relation between the fire department’s just-published needs assessment, its announced intention to place an article on the warrant for the 20 June Town Meeting requiring a yes/no vote on authorizing borrowing and spending @488,750 on a new fire hall, and the committee’s effort to advance the planning of town office and fire department facilities. Some members felt the committee’s work had, in effect, been short-circuited. KP, speaking for the fire department reported that the needs assessment and warrant article reflected both a sense of urgency and some frustration with what was seen as a slow response to the mandate of the March Town Meeting. The conclusions from the discussion may be summarized as follows:


    1. The committee was unanimous in appreciating the needs assessment and sees it as a model for what should be done for town office activities.

    2. A majority of the committee expressed concern that taking the fire department building request to the town on the 20th would not be in the best interests either of the town or the fire department. First, the sense of the committee was that the town’s reaction was very likely to be negative because of the timing, lack of broad consultation and sheer size of the financial commitment. This, it was feared, could very well make any project resulting from the committee’s work a more difficult sell. Second, if the measure did pass, and design and construction got underway as quickly as the department desires, the option of combining town office space with the fire department would become more expensive than if the combination were considered at the beginning of the serious phase of the project. [See below, # 5.]



    1. Each member of the committee then had a chance to express her/his thoughts on how to see the committee’s charge. Roughly speaking there was consensus in general terms: We should seek to identify the best obtainable combination of cost and “functionality” in choosing a recommended option for housing town activities in the future. This might involve a new multifunction building or renovation and expansion of either or both of the existing buildings. Two specific points we were urged to keep in mind during our search were:


      1. An effort should be made to seek sources of revenue, such as the Post Office or a cell tower, to help offset costs.

      2. Costs considered should include not only the capital costs of building or renovation/expansion but also the present value over the life of the project of operating, maintenance and repair (OMR) costs. [1]



      1. After going around the table on the charge, it was agreed that NC and JG would take a first crack at drafting our charge (or scope of work or mission statement). This draft will be shared with the rest of the committee by email for comment, with the intention of having something ready for adoption at the meeting scheduled for Thursday, 28 June. [See below, # 6.]

      2. Before adjourning the committee decided, by majority vote, that the co-chairs should attend the selectmen’s meeting on the 13th and recommend that the selectmen vote against putting the fire department building article on the June Town Meeting warrant.

      3. The committee agreed that, at least for a time, it would schedule its meetings on an ad hoc basis rather than choosing in advance a regular meeting day. This in part reflected a desire to get off to a quick start in response to the fire departments’ sense of urgency. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, 28 June.


      Cliff Russell




      Committee email addresses:


      Tom Albee: tomalbee@tidewater.net


      Nick Caristo: nickjoan@tidewater.net


      Gordon Davis: egdavis414@adelphia.net


      John Green: greenjj@supship.navy.mil


      Fred Gumkowski: fredgum@tidewater.net


      Brian Lawrence: blawrence@gwi.net


      Kathy Pendleton: Kathy@midcoastfcu.net


      Cliff Russell: cliff.russell@vanderbilt.edu