NEWTON FIRE STATION
BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING (NFSBC)
March 09, 2015
Call to Order:
The group appointed Dale Putnam as Chairman Pro Tem as elections will not be held until the next meeting. The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM.
Member Introductions:
Name
Occupation
Professional & Educational Background
Other Town Affiliation re: Elected Offices, Committees, Departments, Organizations, etc.
John Alcaidinaho – Newton Fire Chief since December 2014. He has spent 33 years in Fire Service, with the last 13 years in Dartmouth, MA. He has served on other station committees and has expertise in that area.
Jim Holland – Has lived in Newton for 5 years. He worked 30+ years in Police Departments and served on Nashua government for 12 years. He is currently an alternate on the Newton Planning Board and was a member of the Newton Municipal Complex Committee.
Joe Lingel – Moved to Newton in October 2014. He was formerly the Lynnfield, MA Fire Chief until retiring a year and a half ago. He owns a plastics company in Andover and hopes to bring some expertise to the table.
Dennis Moran - Is a registered Professional Engineer currently working mostly in the solid waste and renewable energy fields. He previously has conducted feasibility studies and energy audits at munici-pal safety complexes and other builds. He is most used to being on the other side of the table attending planning board meetings. He believes it would be good experience to be on the other side of the table and hopes he can learn something from being on this committee and that perhaps the committee can learn something from him.
Dale Putnam – Has lived in Newton since 1984. He is a 27-year Fire Dept. Veteran, a 20-year Navy Veteran. He works at Lawrence General Hospital as a Manager in the Service Department. He was a member of the Newton Municipal Complex Committee, but did not work on the Fire Station Sub-committee.
Jim Ryan –Moved into Newton in February 2013. He owns a construction company in Mass., and manages a property management company. He also teaches fitness training at Choice Fitness and is a Navy Veteran. He was a member of the Newton Municipal Complex Committee.
Jim White – Has lived in Newton for 16 years. He is retired, worked as an electro-mechanical engineer and senior technical trainer in the semi-conductor industry for most of his working years and currently works part-time at Home Depot as appliance specialist. He was a member of the Newton Municipal Complex Committee.
Nancy Wrigley - Is the Town Administrator and will serve as a resource but will not be a member. She was a member of the Newton Municipal Complex Committee.
Jim Doggett - Grew up in Newton and will be a resource person for the group but will not be a member. He is the Vice Chair of the Selectmen and the Planning Board, and was a member of the Newton Municipal Complex Committee.
Two other members, Trisha McCarthy and Mike Pivero were not in attendance.
Barbara White will act as Committee Secretary, post the agendas and take the minutes.
Official Appointments:
Town Clerk Mary Jo McCullough swore in the attending members. Absent members will be sworn in at a later date.
Information from the Newton Municipal Complex Committee Report
Jim Doggett, Selectmen and Chair of the Newton Municipal Complex Committee (NMCC) addressed
the group and explained the work of that committee, which preceded the formation of the Fire Station Building Committee. He provided the group the mission statement the NMCC had chosen with some edits that might fit this committee. The hope is for this committee to come up with a plan to be placed
on the warrant for the warrant either in 2016 or 2017.
Mr. Doggett noted there was a large set of plans for the site which showed a proposed location for the fire station and he opined Mr. Pivero might still have this in his possession. He will find out who has them and they will be turned over to this committee.
Mr. Doggett provided a copy of the final report by the Newton Municipal Complex Committee (NMCC) to the committee members so they could see why this committee was the next step in the process. The NMCC was charged with reviewing and researching the areas of need (Fire Department, Town Hall and Library) and determined the adequacy of function, any deficits, potential for reuse and long-term prospects for use by the town of those buildings. They determined that the Fire Department should be the first area to be addressed as the need for a new fire station is pressing and long overdue. He pointed out the work the NMCC did in reference to the Fire Department on page 4. Mr. Doggett noted the recom-mendation should fit the scale and ideas of Newton as we are not a wealthy or
extravagant Town.
Mr. Doggett noted the NMCC recognized the current fire station is inadequate for the needs of the Town and Mrs. Wrigley noted it is losing heat and costs $1,000 per month to heat. It is also not handicapped accessible.
It was noted that in addition to being too small a lot to house a new fire station, the present property has a history of being a dumping ground and previously housed the town salt shed. Upon prior investigation, it was found there was approximately 10 ft deep of hot top on the property.
Mr. Putnam noted he would check NSPA regulations to see if anything has changed since the first committee started their investigations for recommendations as it was a while ago. The committee will
be looking into whether there is any federal funding available.
There will be a lot of research and work before they are ready to put together specs for an RFP. Mr. Doggett opined an October timeframe would be realistic for getting information out to the residents for a warrant article for next year. This would allow time for information dissemination to the residents. Mr. Doggett also noted there were several good ideas to get the information out in the minutes of the NMCC.
Mr. Doggett reminded the committee that they would also need to make a recommendation of what to do with the existing building when a new fire station is built. When the town sold the old Police Depart-ment building, the funds went to defray the cost of the new building. He also shared that implementing subcommittees to work on various parts of the project worked well for the NMCC and opined they could help this committee as well.
This was an informal introductory meeting. The Chairman and Vice Chairman will be elected at the next formal meeting. The group will agree on a committee name, the mission statement will be discussed and agreed upon, and meeting dates will also be decided.
As no formal decisions could be made at this meeting, Mr. Putnam recommended a group tour tonight of both the main Fire Station and the one in the Junction to view current conditions that would be discussed at the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 pm. The group will tour both current fire stations.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara White
Barbara White
Secretary
Newton Fire Station Building Committee
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