New Fire Station Returns to Agenda

On April 3, the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen along with Town Administrator Michael Gagne and Mattapoisett Fire Chief Andrew Murray sat around the conference room table ready to discuss realities and pressing needs of the town’s fire station.

Armed with a newly released Employee Safety for Fire Departments document dated March 23 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s Department of Labor Standards, the document listed the minimum regulations fire departments in the state needed to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards and Massachusetts General Law. It was no surprise to anyone sitting at the table that Mattapoisett’s fire station wasn’t meeting the standards in many significant ways.

Murray pointed out the major areas that he had previously pointed to during Finance Committee and Capital Planning Committee meetings as areas of critical concern.

Under the category “Facility Safety,” Murray said the current building failed all three line items: electrical wiring; stairways, railings and floor maintenance; and ventilation for truck exhaust.

Murray said that smaller line items such as a ‘sharps’ container would be addressed immediately, but more critical matters such as decontamination procedures for gear and staff were beyond the scope of what the current structure could accommodate – there simply isn’t room.

Again, Murray said that with diesel fumes infecting the apparatus floor where the gear is kept, personal protection equipment couldn’t be adequately cleaned. He said keeping equipment clean was very difficult as well due to carcinogenic particulates in the atmosphere.

Murray also said, with the lack of sufficient bathroom facilities (there is one toilet to serve the needs of the entire department), and no shower rooms, personnel were taking “toxins home” after every call. And regarding female firefighters, there were no designated facilities of any type.

Murray said that in February, OSHA began an on-site inspection and had the power to levy fines for violations. He said first offenders would receive a written warning and 30 days to comply, but that clearly the Mattapoisett fire station needed immediate attention. He said a meeting is scheduled for April 11 to begin the discussion with the OSHA inspectors as to how Mattapoisett could comply.

Gagne presented an updated schedule of retiring debt service to the give selectmen some insight into how the town might go about financing a new fire station that may have estimated costs around $7 million. He said that by using free cash in combination with retiring debt, some money could be earmarked without going over the 2.5% levy.

But Gagne said that in conversations he has had with town officials in Carver, more creative financial planning might be worthy of consideration.

In Carver, Gagne said, a decision to put new growth revenue aside to pay for their new fire station and school had allowed those projects to become a reality.

“I think that’s an interesting concept,” he said, adding that once the second Crystal Spring solar array is completed, about $70,000 per year of new revenue would be secured. “I would recommend we set up the debt stabilization fund and put that new growth in there.” He said, in this way, the fire station might be funded partly from new growth and partly from retiring debt, calling it “a nice blend.”

Board of Selectmen Chairman Paul Silva asked about updated construction estimates, saying figures that were advanced years ago were not adequate to determine how much money would be needed. “Until we know what a new fire station will cost, we’re just talking,” he said.

Murray said he had hoped to include the talents of students from surrounding vocational schools as well as work-release programs available through the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department for non-violent offenders. Such skills as painting, landscaping, and carpentry from these sources might help to keep overall construction costs down, he believed.

Silva said, “Our priority is to drill down.”

Of the construction of a new fire station, Silva said, “I think it’s important not to do all the work at once. You need the right footprint … but not all the bells and whistles.” He said that the previous attempt to gain voters’ agreement on a new fire station had been met with resistance and ultimately caused the project to go down in flames on the Town Meeting floor. “We learned our lesson,” said Silva.

Selectman Jordan Collyer, who is also a senior member of the Fire Department, said, “I don’t want to see us get stuck in analysis paralysis.… We have to meet a certain need. We need to find a balance to get the job done.” He said the current building was “atrocious” and thought the bid should include a turnkey building versus a shell. He said, “I know we want to use retiring debt, but we are going to have to borrow something – the cost of construction isn’t going down.”

Silva said, “The bottom line is … we are running out of time.”

The No. 1 one issue for Gagne was to drill down on the numbers and ask Town Meeting during the May session to take $260,000 from free cash to do a study of both the fire station and the Town Hall building.

Regarding the Town Hall building, Gagne said it would be interesting and relevant to get solid demographic numbers on the town’s population in light of fewer student enrollments.

“My recommendation is we take a harder, more in-depth look at school capacity, merging classes into one building and then utilizing the space for Town Hall departments and the Council on Aging before we look at new construction,” Gagne said.

Returning to the fire station issue, Silva asked that Murray prepare a presentation for the May Town Meeting to bring voters into the conversation.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen is scheduled for April 24 at 6:45 pm at the Town Hall.

Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen

By Marilou Newell