The plan for building Whitefield’s fire station will be adjusted and snow removal will be far superior to the performance on Dec. 6, the day of the first winter storm. Because the snowplow contractor provided too few trucks last Monday, driving conditions on the icy Mills Road in particular sent several motorists and a fire truck skidding onto the shoulder.
Frances Hodsdon, of Jefferson, driving south about 8:30 a.m., said her car was totaled. “That hill was pure ice. I hit it, went zig-zag, struck some small trees in the right hand ditch, and ended up headed in the opposite direction.” Hodsdon added she was lucky not to get hurt. “It’s ridiculous, a totally unnecessary thing to have happened.”
According to Selectman Frank Ober, Seth McGee, representing snowplow contractor Steve McGee Construction, told the board at its regular weekly meeting Dec. 13 there was a miscommunication between him and his father about where drivers were to go. They were sent to another job, leaving insufficient manpower for plowing and sanding Whitefield roads.
“There was disagreement about the number of trucks” stipulated by the contract with the town, Ober also reported. Six trucks are required, but half that number showed up to clear snow-covered roads.
Ober said the conversation with McGee, in which road commissioner David Boynton participated, was non-confrontational. “They recognized they screwed up. They responded to our concerns and next time will do a better job.”
Concerning the fire station, board of selectmen chairman Steve McCormick said this week a meeting with contractor Tom Catalano, of Catalano’s Construction, resulted in “a couple of changes.” Instead of trying to pour the concrete slab for the floor first, as originally planned, that step won’t be taken “until they get the building up,” said McCormick. “The weather has overtaken them and frost is an issue.”
Ober said trusses are expected to be delivered this week, and the hope is to have the building closed in by Christmas. “It’s an ambitious plan,” he commented.
The building committee will meet with a select board representative on Thurs., Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. to discuss the progress of the project.
In other business, fire chief Tim Pellerin presented a training schedule for 2011 and described a survey he presented to town firefighters, asking them to identify two departmental goals to reach in the next year, two personal goals, two current strengths and weaknesses of the department, and ideas for cost savings. Ober approved Pellerin’s efforts as a “good idea” to get the volunteers involved.
The training schedule includes grooming the officers to train and teach others and to assume a greater leadership role in the future, Ober said Tuesday.
“He’s looking after that team he’s got, he’s pulling them up by the bootstraps,” the selectman said.
