Edgecomb selectmen heard from an irate fire chief regarding new fire station plans during their Monday night meeting, as well as from two residents proposing a five member board instead of three. Selectmen also discussed storm damages to town property.
The company the town contracted to dry out the Town Hall, “Servpro,” spent five days working on the project after the Feb. 25-26 storm flooded the building with several inches of water. According to Edgecomb Selectman Jack Sarmanian, the storm toppled the Town Hall’s chimney, also causing some damage to the roof below it.
Richard Spinney Masonry has been working on the project and has just about finished. Sarmanian said Spinney worked through the weekend and has completed the laying of brick. He said the roof should be repaired on Tuesday. He estimated the collective damage, between the roof and chimney would cost roughly $4500, an expense selectmen said was covered by insurance. The diaphragm on the building’s water pressure tank also broke, Sarmanian said.
As a member of the town’s Building Committee, Sarmanian mentioned several other repairs that need to be made on the Town Hall, in addition to the storm damage. Along with the cost of building a new fire station, the town needs to consider the costs associated with repairing and maintaining the municipal office building.
Sarmanian said the roof gutters were covered over with insulation when the roof was last re-shingled. People at the meeting said the last re-shingling job took place 20 years ago.
The building also needs to be insulated on one wall and secured from water leakage, according to Sarmanian. He said a contractor estimated the cost for this work would be about $5300. He said it could cost the town between $8000-$10,000 to repair the building.
According to town historians at the meeting, the Town Hall was originally built in 1794.
“Each renovation is a part of its history,” Edgecomb resident and The Lincoln County News columnist Jo Cameron said.
She recalled a time when a questionnaire put to residents which of two buildings, the Town Hall and the old elementary school building, they wanted to keep. She said residents supported keeping the Town Hall.
“The town may value the building, and it’s going to have to pay for the building,” Selectman John Johnson said.
Johnson said he understood why there is a little trepidation from those wishing to rent the building for various functions, given its condition and recent storm damage, but renting brings needed revenue to the town.
Sarmanian emphasized this year’s budget is going to be very tight. The total estimated costs would just be for repair work, he said, and not for any upgrades.
The committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed plan for Edgecomb residents at the Town Hall March 24 at 7 p.m.
As committee member Jack Sarmanian described it to Fire Chief Roy Potter Monday night, the architect suggested combining the addition of a new town office to the new fire station plan.
“If we go ahead with adding a town hall to the new fire station,” Potter said. “We are inviting a fatality.”
Potter said he was upset, as the committee has worked for a very long time to put together plans for a new fire station and no one had consulted him about the idea of adding a town hall.
His concern is that the crest of hill by the current fire station is vulnerable to traffic collisions and generally unsafe. People pulling out of the station parking lot risk getting “T-boned” by vehicles speeding by. Potter said as far as the fire department is concerned, they could cooperate with the state to install warning lights and other traffic warning signals.
He acknowledged the Town Hall also needed work, but said adding a town office to the proposed fire station plan would be unsafe.
Frustrated with the years that have passed with a deteriorating fire station, Potter said, “I can’t manage my station. I can’t hold meetings.”
Addressing Potter’s concerns, Sarmanian said the committee members just wanted to see what would be possible and the plan is just in an exploration mode at the moment.
“Nobody is saying they don’t appreciate the situation you’re in,” Sarmanian said, adding the process is moving forward as he has been researching funding resources and seeing what would be possible.
One resident spoke up, saying he thought it would be tragic if, when a new fire station was built, the town needed a new office and didn’t have the resources for one.
Board members discussed the possible cost associated with the construction of just a new fire station, the number of which has been $600,000. Johnson said this number keeps going up, but Sarmanian indicated the estimated costs are not set in stone.
The committee is looking at what would best suit the needs of the fire department and what would be feasible for the community.
“It’s earned, validated and necessary,” Sarmanian said, adding Potter, other committee members and selectmen have worked hard to come up with a plan.
Having communicated with Lincoln County Economic Development Director Mary Ellen Barnes, Sarmanian suggested people contact state and local representatives to ask for funding assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Two of the town’s current board members, Sarmanian and Johnson, spoke with residents Jo Cameron and Jarryl Larson about the idea. While selectmen acknowledged their workload keeps them busy, they did not think adding two additional members would benefit the community, necessarily.
Cameron and Larson said the law restricts current board members from meeting outside of public forums and the addition of two members would offer the board more flexibility. Selectman John Johnson said he would rather have the cost of adding two additional board members be applied to an assistant, instead.
Adding the cost of two additional selectmen could also instead be spread out over a new five-member board, Larson suggested. According to information derived from the town’s 2008 annual report, selectmen each receive an annual stipend of $3000 and the chairman receives an additional $1000 as organizer and board manager.
