Summary Minutes
“Best Fit” Public Protection Committee Work Group
September 30, 2009, 10-12 AM
Attendees: Town Manager Mike Macdonald, Chief James Willis, Chief Mike Bender, Director Tony Smith, Dennis Shubert
The “Best Fit” subgroup of the PPC was convened to consider all possible options for accommodating the needs of the PD, FD and Town office. The discussion was far ranging by design. Prior to the meeting, the group had access to information about total space needs for each department and each department head provided detail as needed. The group discussed many variations on two basic options. The first option was a full build out of the present town hall that would include a two story addition to the town hall extending south to the present limit of the FD equipment bays and including a full second story over the present FD equipment bays. The assumption was that full build out would provide approximately 2000 square feet in the two story addition and
approximately 2500 square feet in a second story above the FD equipment bays. The second option was a freestanding Public Safety Building at a separate location. By design the second option would address present and future needs of the PD and FD.
The group determined in their collective opinion and with reference to space available that:
The Town Hall full build out would address all present and known future needs for the PD, FD and Town administration with the exceptions of:
The FD equipment bays will most likely not fit all future types of equipment or apparatus due to total space. This includes no additional room for expansion or growth at the present 1st floor footprint. A combination FD with full time fire fighters will work best with a concentration of equipment that the full build out option could not accommodate.
The full build out option could accommodate known handicap access requirements but not ideally.
Public access to the town office would remain not ideal but doable with all examined options
The group further examined the full build out option considering different locations for the services. Given that the group agreed that a sally port for the PD was very desirable from a security and environmental viewpoint, and given that a sally port on the upper level would be difficult to connect to the likely PD spaces, the group concluded that leaving the PD on the first level was best. The group concluded that the town administrative offices could work on either level.
There were differing opinions about the impact that a new public safety building might have in lowering the threshold to a combination FD with a core full time staff. Some group members felt that construction of a public safety building would likely include all space needed to accommodate a combination FD. Some felt that construction of such a building prior to the failure of a volunteer department would be self-fulfilling in leading to such failure. Others felt that either the new Public Safety building would have no such effect or the new building would be constructed in such a way that the cost of creating space not yet needed could be minimized such as building a shelled area only.
The discussion then centered on short term and long term FD staffing needs. The group Reviewed portions of Retention and Recruitment for Volunteer Emergency Services from the U.S. Fire Administration dated May 2007. The group agreed that the Public Protection Committee should examine the options for strengthening a volunteer FD and make recommendations to the Board of Selectman. The group anticipated that significantly more funds would be needed for such a program, but if successful, would delay or prevent the need to hire full time FFs.
There was extensive discussion around the issue of transforming the FD from a volunteer department to a combination department. The group conclusion was that the timing of such a transformation was the key unknown. If the transformation were to occur in 3 years, then a public safety building soon might be the best option. If the department employed an aggressive recruitment and retention program that proved successful then a public safety building would not likely be the best option. One option would be to put a two story addition on the present town hall now and either place a second story over the present FD bays, or a new fire station in the future should a recruitment and retention program fail.
Summary time lines
1. Option one: Construct a Public Safety Building now, accommodate Town administrative needs in vacated Town Hall space, hire and staff a combination FD when volunteer force becomes inadequate.
2. Option two: Construct a two story addition to the Town Hall to accommodate present Town administrative needs, PD needs and FD needs. Invest in a recruitment and retention program for volunteer FD. If the expanded recruitment and retention program fails to provide an adequate FF force then A. Hire core full time FF, B. Either add on a second story to the present fire station to accommodate the space needs of full time FF, or C. If equipment and apparatus space in present FD is inadequate in the future, then build a new Fire Station and abandon the present FD space.
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