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Date: 11/23/2022
BLANDFORD – Speakers at the Blandford Special Town Meeting on Nov. 14 didn’t hold back on their views about spending as much as $8 million on a new Highway and Fire Department garage.
Instead, the town voted against continuing the $75,000 contract with the owner’s project manager and against paying $180,000 for Weston & Sampson to come up with a schematic design for the building.
Although the room was closely divided – 35 against the funding, 33 in favor – the votes would have needed a three-quarters majority to pass. The project manager funding was to come from the Building Stabilization Fund, and for the schematic design from free cash, money left over from previous year’s budgets.
“It’s a tremendous waste of money. I don’t think it’s a wise investment for the town,” said resident Don Carpenter of Russell Stage Road during the discussion leading up to the vote.
Other residents objected to the plan to relocate the Fire Department to the site of the salt shed on Chester Road, which they believed is too far from the center of town. The current fire garage is on North Blandford Road.
Fire Chief David Mottor said the siting was a concern, but the cost of the current site, and having no open space to build on other than Chester Road, were factors. He said the plan to build one building to house both the Highway and Fire departments would be a cost savings.
Another resident questioned whether the projected three-quarters of a million dollars for the final design of the building is really necessary.
Town Administrator Christopher Dunne said the town is legally required to hire an owner’s project manager for municipal projects over $1 million, and must follow state procurement laws.
An engineer from Weston & Sampson, the company selected during the bidding process to do the design work, said typically engineering designs for projects such as this one are between 10 and 15 percent of construction costs.
Resident Doug Smelcer also questioned the cost of the design.
“I’m on a fixed income, with a 20 percent increase in my house valuation. What about people who can’t pay for heating? We’re just out of control,” he said, adding that Blandford only has 1,200 residents.
Another resident asked if any consideration was given to sharing the cost by regionalizing the Fire Department, with Blandford as the home base.
Mottor said it was a great idea, but would take the support of voters. He said in most parts of the country, fire departments are run on a county-wise basis. He said he previously presented a plan for regionalization with the towns of Russell, Huntington, Montgomery and Chester, with one full-time member from each town, but the other towns didn’t get behind it.
Select Board Chair Cara Letendre said the board was able to get taxes to go down last year.
“We’ve been working on this process for many years. It’s been careful and deliberate,” she said, also adding that a previous design for separate garages for each department would have cost more. “I’ve been working here for 10 years, and have heard how unsafe the fire garage is.”
Letendre said the Fire Department is the first line of defense in the town for a medical emergency, such as a heart attack.
“Do any of us want to spend more money than necessary? Absolutely not,” she said, but “this is the next step in line to get there.”
Dunne said the $8 million figure residents were citing had been a rough estimate for the cost of two buildings.
“We’re looking at one building. There would be cost savings.”
Mottor said continuing to repair the current Fire Department building was “throwing good money after bad.” He said the department burns 200 gallons of heating oil a week in the old garage, due to drafts and a lack of insulation. He said there are a lot of structural repairs needed. “The building is a maintenance nightmare,” he said.
Although most agreed that the Fire Department needed a new building, one resident questioned whether the Highway Department needed the upgrade, and said voters would be “more receptive” to a proposal for a fire station only.
Highway Superintendent David Waldron said his current garage was built in 1947, and the town now has bigger trucks and bigger equipment. Waldron said he is unable to bring his Mack truck into the garage to load with sand and salt, and has to load those materials first onto a smaller truck, then transfer to the large truck. The process means it takes his department an hour and a half longer than it should to prepare for a winter storm.
“I have equipment that has never seen the inside of a building,” Waldron said.
New Select Board member Jeffrey Allen said he had offered to investigate going to a private business to look at steel-engineered buildings that cost less than typical construction. Dunne and Letendre said that there are different rules for how a municipal building can be built.
One resident said the town voted Allen onto the Select Board, and if he has other ideas, he should be able to pursue them.
After more discussion about the potential costs, location and other alternatives, moderator David Hopson asked whether to hold the article and postpone the vote. Instead, the motion was called, and the funding voted down.
At the end of the meeting, Dunne said the town will have to go back to the drawing board. “Half the room said they didn’t like the location, and half the room said they didn’t like the cost,” he said.