DEEP RIVER

Voters in Deep River will decide whether or not the town’s fire department will receive a new firehouse and two new vehicles as part of a referendum which will appear on the ballot in November.

Following approval by the Board of Selectmen (BOS) and the Board of Finance (BOF) on Sept. 3, residents will now vote on two separate referendums—one for two vehicles for the fire department and one to construct a new firehouse to replace the one which has stood at 57 Union Street for around 63 years.

According to the executive summary by Pat Munger Construction Company Inc., the current facility is “dated, is too small to properly serve the current needs of the town,” and will need “significant updates from a maintenance, operational and code perspective.”

In its place, “The Fire Department Building Committee is proposing to construct a new, approximately 12,000-square-foot facility on the site of the existing fire headquarters,” according to the summary.

The majority of the 12,000-square-foot project will consist of 8,272-square-foot apparatus bays. This could support the department and its personnel from an operational standpoint, according to Dave Berardis, chair of the Deep River Board of Fire Commissioners. Berardis said the current bay space is limited and requires time-consuming efforts to pull emergency trucks out of the facility, leaving less time for personnel to reach the point of emergency in town.

There will be 3,648 square feet of space in the “administration area,” including offices, kitchen and lavatory facilities, and, critically, a training center which would also serve as a conference space.

“If you want to get the whole department there—40 people at one time—and have training, you actually have a place that has tables and chairs and a place to do training,” said Berardis. “Right now, we don’t have that. The only way to [train] is to pull the trucks out of the garage and have them outside and set the tables and chairs on the garage floor, which in the winter is kind of a problem. When it's really cold outside and the trucks that have to stay warm, you gotta keep them running.”

From an infrastructure standpoint, Berardis said the current facility’s roof is “rotted out” and can feel “bouncy” if walked upon, while not completely protecting the interior from heavy rainwater seeping through the roof.

Additionally, Berardis said that the HVAC system (the heating system) “dates back to the origins of the firehouse,” as does its boiler.

From a code perspective, Berardis said that the current building is not ADA-compliant and does not contain the “proper amount of showers,” including for the purposes of decontamination following an emergency mission.

If the referendum is approved by voters, the cost of constructing the new firehouse is estimated by the BOS and BOF “not to exceed $8.3 million.” The cost includes interest and a 10% contingency for future unknowns on the project.

According to George Eckenroth, the chair of the BOF, a 40-year loan can be given to the town by another firm at 4%. That loan would not support the financing of construction, “so we will have to go out and seek an additional loan to finance the construction,” said Eckenroth.

“When the loan is finished, we will take the interest of the construction and roll into the cost of the project,” he said.

Eckenroth added that the new fire vehicles would be leased and that this would be an advantageous move on the town’s part since the lease company will make all of the payments on them.

The new engine and brush truck have a combined total of $2 million, $1.5 million of which will be for the new engine, with the remaining balance of $500,000 for the brush truck. The new engine would replace a 1989 model currently being used by the fire department, while the brush truck, which is used for off-road operations, would replace a model from 1982, said Berardis.

The financial impact on the town budget was considered by the boards at their joint meeting on Sept. 3. Selectman Kathryn Russell pointed out to Eckenroth the possibility of inflating the town’s debt if both projects were approved by voters come November, something of which the BOF chair is aware.

The mill rate could also be affected by the approval of the two projects at an upwards of 1.33 mills, as estimated by joint boards, and could add $375 for property taxes. However, the boards said this will require further analysis.

Berardis and his fellow commissioners recognize the financial impact that the projects, including the firehouse on its own, might have on the budget, especially in the wake of costly improvements at the Region 4 School District’s athletic facilities and for mold remediation at John Winthrop Middle School.

“All of that is going to make this a hard sell, just because all the costs to taxpayers are from problems with the schools,” Berardis acknowledged. “We all live in town, so we're taxpayers, too. None of us want our taxes to go up. You're trying to walk a fine line between the needs of the department and your own personal financial considerations with how expensive property taxes are.”

On the flip side, Berardis feels that the proposed improvements, if given a ‘yes’ vote by the majority of voters, would go toward substantially improving the conditions and capabilities of the fire department, while avoiding the increasingly high-maintenance and repair costs the department could face in the short-term if it keeps its aging vehicles.

The fire department will look to host public information sessions at the firehouse held on Thursday, Sept. 26; Saturday, Sept. 28; Thursday, Oct. 10; Saturday, Oct. 12; Thursday, Oct. 24; and Saturday, Oct. 26. The Thursday dates will see conferences take place at 7 p.m., and the Saturday conferences will begin at 9 a.m. Most of the sessions will be held at the firehouse, so attendees can see current conditions in person, said Berardis. The final one on will be held in the auditorium at Deep River Town Hall on Oct. 26, which is 10 days before Election Day.