TOWN OF NEWTON, NH
FIRE STATION
BUILDING COMMITTEE MEETING (FSBC)
November 7, 2016
In attendance, in alphabetical order: Fire Chief John Alcaidinho, Joe Lingel, Jim Ryan, and Jim White. Bill Ingalls was excused. Secretary Barbara White transcribed the minutes.
I. Call meeting to order.
The meeting started at 7:05 pm. Mike Pivero joined the meeting at approximately 7:15. The Secretary distributed copies of the final report to the Selectmen from last year, a copy of the brochure that was distributed to the residents at that time, and a copy of the member list.
It was the consensus of the group to wait until all the members were in attendance to select a Chairman and Vice Chairman.
II. Set Calendar of Meetings
It was decided to keep the meeting to the previously set 3rd Monday of the month. If the Recreation Committee is meeting in the big hall, the FDBC will meet in the small back room.
The committee bounced around the idea of squeezing another meeting in between this one and Dec. 19, but decided there would not be time to have anything done by then.
III. Other
The group discussed if there was time to assemble the revised materials in time for the sub-mission due date for warrant articles, noting the short timeframe available for meetings. They thought they could meet this deadline if they worked fast.
They also discussed if submitting the warrant article for 25 or 30 years instead of the previously stated 20 years would make a difference in the tax impact to the residents. It was noted the difference in tax impact would mostly likely be minimal, but the payments would go on for a longer timeframe and the interest accumulation would be much higher.
It should be emphasized to the residents that the payments for 8 Merrimac Road and this new station would only overlap for a short time, as payments on 8 Merrimac Road were due to be completed in approximately two years.
The existing fire station's condition was getting worse and if there were to be a warrant article for repairs to the present Fire Department, the fixes would only band-aid the problems in the short- term and that expense would be significant and have to be paid out all at once in comparison to payment for a new station being spread out over time.
Mike Pivero will contact Kelly Davis from Port One, who helped put the brochure together, to see if he could generate some revised costs for a new brochure. He has the brochure format on his computer. Chief Alcaidinho will approach the Selectmen for the funds to cover the necessary changes. Mike will contact Kelly to see if he can attend the December 19th meeting.
Mrs. White noted there was a suggestion to contact the High School media class to see if they would like to take on producing a video of existing conditions of the present Fire House as a class project to be shown on the Town website and the TV channel. Chief Alcaidinho will approach the Selectmen to see if they approve this before the school is contacted.
There was discussion on mass mailings to the residents (maybe 2) strategically timed before the voting in March; one mailing a month before and one a week before. Last time this was discussed, it was somewhere in the range of $600-$800 per mailing (printing and postage inclusive). RAM printing could do this for us. We will get an updated cost and request funds from the Selectmen for this.
The warrant article for the new Fire Station will be Warrant Article #5 (same as last year) so the signs that were purchased last year can be utilized again at no cost.
Next meeting will be December 19th at 7:00 pm.
IV. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm.
Barbara White
FSBC Secretary
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