NEWTON MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
COMMITTEE MEETING
May 19, 2014
In attendance, in alphabetical order: Mary Allen, Jim Doggett – Chairman, Roger Hamel, Bill Landry – Vice Chairman, Trisha McCarthy, John Meserve, Jim Ryan, Joe Simone, Jim White, and Nancy Wrigley.
Len Beauvois, Larry Foote, Mike Pivero, Dale Putnam, and Ron Saunders were not in attendance. Secretary Barbara White recorded the minutes.
- Call Meeting to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.
- Acceptance of Minutes: Mrs. McCarthy motioned to accept the minutes as presented; Mr. Meserve seconded. Unanimous approval.
- Reports from Mike Pivero and Jim Doggett:
- Mr. Pivero was not in attendance and will give his report at the June meeting. It was noted Chief Ingalls has provided Mr. Pivero with a copy of the plans, but it was also noted that those plans were for a “safety complex” and not just a new fire station.
- Mr. Doggett did call the newspaper in regard to doing an article and it was recommended the group might want to take their own photo with a short blurb under it as it might get into the paper in a timelier manner if they did not need to wait for a reporter to be available.
It was recommended that for the initial insertion to the paper, the group’s mission statement might be restated with dates and time the group meets so more interest in their mission might be generated. It was also decided to wait to take the picture until the absent members were in attendance.
Town Hall - Mr. Hamel and Mr. Landry will put together a write-up for the Town Hall. It was noted as the Town Hall had burned, there does not appear to be any photos of the previous town hall, only the current one.
Fire Department – Mr. Meserve noted they should focus on only the Fire Department and not inundate the residents with all the other building at this time. Mrs. McCarthy suggested they
focus on the Fire Department needs and not on what they lack.
Mr. Landry noted that the land was donated and when the fire station was built, it was built with donations and free labor costing the town nothing. At one time there was a very active Fire Association/Women’s Group who did fund-raising.
Mr. Meserve suggested that once they get the information out to the public in regard to the Fire Department, they could then focus on “planning the land” and the RFP for the rest of the site.
Discussion ensued and it was suggested that a series of article be presented in the Carriage Towne News starting in the December timeframe to get people’s interest before the next Town Meeting.
Mr. Doggett suggested that when the town takes possession of the buildings, they should create a revolving trust account for maintenance of the property – approximately $12,000 per year. Also they should ask for the funds in the now defunct Safety Complex to be moved into the new account to seed the maintenance trust.
There was also vigorous discussion on the need to ascertain what was going to happen with the office space and apartment on the second floor of the Police Department. It was ascertained a good portion of the funds necessary for the maintenance of the site might be gleaned from the renting of those spaces, and also that of the green building (which appeared not to be able to be repurposed for use by the Fire Department as it did not meet structural requirements for a public building).
The Fire Department Sub-Committee will have a meeting before the next NMCC meeting.
Planning Board: Mr. Doggett had spoken to the Planning Board who had agreed to continue to fund 50% of the Administrative Support salary for the NMCC committee.
Next NMCC Meeting: The next meeting will be on June 16th at 7:00 pm at the Town Hall meeting Room.
VI: Adjourn: Mr. Landry MOVED to adjourn; Mr. White seconded. Motion was unanimous.
Chairman Doggett adjourned the meeting at a7:55 pm.
Barbara White
Respectfully Submitted,
Barbara White
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