Construction of Whitefield’s central fire and rescue station is on schedule, reported board of selectmen chair Steve McCormick this week.
Less is known about a new fire building planned for Coopers Mills.
Following a meeting with contractor Tom Catalano Tuesday morning, McCormick said the work on the central station appears to be on track for early spring completion. Walls and roof are in place. “They’re planning to put the windows in tomorrow, plastic up the big doors, and have the building weather tight so they can start working inside,” he said.
Concerning a new fire station in Coopers Mills, McCormick and Selectman Frank Ober, during the board’s regular Monday meeting, impressed on fire chief Tim Pellerin the need to “dialogue” about the project.
Before voters last March approved forming a municipally organized fire department, the Coopers Mills fire association was one of three independent volunteer companies maintaining their own stations.
During discussions last winter, when the Kings Mills and North Whitefield companies voted to lease their buildings and equipment (the portion not bought with town funds) at little to no cost, Coopers Mills members indicated a willingness to pursue negotiations with the town. But they took a wait-and-see attitude about their status in the new department until implementation began in July and lease terms were developed.
For years, the association has been raising and setting aside money to build a replacement station on Rt. 17 on land abutting the property.
Lease arrangements between the town and associations are still being hammered out.
On Monday, Ober noted the well has now been drilled for the new Coopers Mills building and “they’re talking to an architect.” How will the station “mesh with the town?” he asked Pellerin.
Queried by McCormick about what vehicles will be housed in that new station, Pellerin said a tanker and pumper. The chief added, “I don’t regulate to them my expectations.” The two selectmen reiterated the need for a dialogue about the project.
Boynton is plowing snow for the town of Somerville.
McCormick, in agreeing to be the go-to person, was philosophical. “Every road commissioner we’ve ever had always bids on [the snowplow] contract and doesn’t always get it.” Replacing the lost work with another job, compounded by reluctance to deal with issues involving the successful contractor, “is the nature of the beast,” McCormick said. “It’s always this way.”
Town office staffers receiving phone calls will forward complaints to the board chair. “As long as we have the [person’s] name, number and the road where the issue is, that’s enough of a record,” he said, to track the contractor’s performance for an end-of-season review.
“We cut the budget hard last year and there’s not a lot of money this year,” McCormick said. Revenues are down, costs are up, and there’s a lack of surplus. That last factor is the biggest stress, he said. Taxes will go up. “Even if the budget were flat, we’d have to raise taxes. We’d like to add $25,000 to the road budget, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to do that.”
In recent years, to ease the burden on taxpayers, selectmen have pruned the road budget severely, and paving during the past year has eaten up any carry-forward, McCormick said.
Serving on the budget committee are William Brooke, Barbara Delvecchio, Brian Huntley, Jim Fitz-Patrick, Louis Sell, Lester Sheaffer and Barry Tibbetts.