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Date: 1/5/2022
SOUTHAMPTON – During a Dec. 21 meeting, the Southampton Select Board officially approved the general composition of the Public Safety Building Committee.
In a unanimous vote, the Select Board agreed that the committee will consist of the town administrator, a member of the Select Board, the police chief, fire chief, a member that represents the senior community via the Council on Aging Board or Friends of Council on Aging, a member of the Finance Committee, a member of the Historical Commission, as well as four members of the community and/or surrounding communities, preferably with experience in engineering, construction, architecture, financial management or previous public safety experience.
The committee in its current form conducted their first meeting since March 2020 on Oct. 25, 2021 and have met a couple other times since then. The members who were present for the Oct. 25 meeting included Charlie Kaniecki, Don Warren, Janet Brown, Bill Barcomb, Police Chief Ian Illingsworth, and Fire Chief John Workman.
Back in 2015, the previous committee presented a comprehensive report for a new $10.8 million public safety complex in Southampton that would have combined the fire and police stations, but the measure did not secure the necessary two-thirds majority vote to have it pass during Town Meeting. The Select Board wanted to move forward with it at that time.
According to minutes of that October meeting, Select Board member Maureen Groden noted that progress on developing a plan for a public safety complex had stopped, and a letter was sent to town residents to see if any landowner would be interested in selling land, and no one responded. Progress was paused after that.
The goal now is to garner more community support and add more members to the committee as it continues to resurrect. “The idea is to get broader representation and understanding about the need for this whole process,” said Select Board Chair Christine Fowles, when talking about the wider expansion of the committee.
“The reason why we’re doing this right now is because we need to have a charge for this public safety, and that it does report to the Select Board, and there have been problems over 20 years of having a Public Safety Complex [Committee] and very little to show for,” said Groden. “I want to be able to do our job in creating a charge and a composition that the voters and people of this town can get behind and feel that there’s a lot of good open communication, and the right people are at the table.”
The positions that were approved will be for one to three years, and the committee is to conduct regular monthly meetings at a minimum. According to Fowles, only Kaniecki was appointed to the committee so far, as of press time. Meetings will be recorded and posted so transparency is maintained with the Southampton citizens. No potential site visits will be recorded.
The Select Board also agreed during their conversation that the Public Safety Building Committee would have to be responsible for educating the public on the matter, as well as finding out what the current public perception is about a public safety complex in the town. The Select Board is asking that they develop a response based on the findings.
Once a location is approved by the Select Board, the committee will be asked to have someone submit a building design and plans to incorporate police, fire, Emergency Management, ambulance, dispatch, and related public health storage requirements. The Select Board is hoping at least two locations will be considered, beginning with the consideration of town-owned properties.
Members of the Select Board are planning to meet with state officials in January or February to try and acquire one-time funding while the committee re-establishes their footing.