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08/17/2021 03:17 PMFunds recently approved by the State Bond Commission will help Deep River install a new roof on its elementary school, paving the way for the town’s continued focus on increasing the energy efficiency of town-owned buildings.
“This is a big, big deal for us, because what it does is, it allows us to get the roof finished so all of that roof will be new within the last five years,” said First Selectman Angus McDonald at a July 27 Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting. “After that, we can go and put solar panels on there and continue with our energy upgrade.”
The town has allocated funds in its capital budget for the Deep River Elementary School’s roof for the last three fiscal years, according to the town’s budget documents, most recently allocating $25,000 in repairs for fiscal year 2022.
“We’ve been working on that here and there as much as we can afford each year,” said McDonald, who added that there are no leaks, but that the 30-year roof has reached the end of its lifespan due to its age.
The town is already working with a roofing contractor on the project, having scheduled repair work for later this summer.
Now that the funds to complete the project have been awarded to the town, “the roofing company is working diligently to get the materials so we can do all of it before the beginning of the school year,” said McDonald.
If the materials aren’t available to complete the project this summer, the work will be done over holiday break in December or at the start of next summer, so that it is completed in the current fiscal year, according to McDonald.
“So, we won’t spend that $27,000 and then come back and finish it,” said McDonald. “We’re going to wait to do the whole thing at once.”
The project totals $159,000, with the State Bond Commission contributing $132,000 in funding and $27,000 from the town of Deep River.
FD Needs Assessment
At the Deep River Board of Finance (BOF) meeting directly following the BOS meeting on July 27, the BOF authorized the expenditure of $132,000 from the bond funds for the school roof, as well as up to $20,000 on an independent needs assessment of the Deep River Fire Department.
The assessment would analyze the Fire Department’s existing equipment and apparatus, among other items, and help the town plan for future needs of the department.
Deep River Fire Chief Tim Lee, who was in attendance at the July 27 BOS meeting, said that the report furnished at the end of the assessment will be “very in depth.”
“It’s a six-month project for them to come and they look at all different aspects of the department, apparatus, apparatus placement, the main power placement in relation to stations and response times, insurance stuff—you know, everything is looked at,” he continued.
Once completed, the assessment report would be shared publicly.
The funding for both the school roof and the needs assessment will need to receive final approval by citizens at a town meeting, which had not been scheduled as of press time.
The town is currently exploring whether the federal grant funds allocated to the town from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will cover the independent needs assessment of the Deep River Fire Department, as well as other expenses related to public safety including firefighting breathing apparatus, air filling stations, and radio communication devices for the Fire Department.
“We are starting to come up with positive things to purchase with this money that will take a load off of the tax base, tax burden for the next four years anyway,” said McDonald. “These are things that really go right into the three items that we have prioritized: public safety, economic recovery and arts and culture.”
The town recently formed advisory committees in these three areas to formulate ideas on how to spend its ARPA funding.