Facilities Steering Committee, Phase II
Town of Princeton, MA
meeting minutes for 9/4/18
7pm at town COA, Post Office Place
Attending for the committee: Richard Chase, Noelani Chase, Rick McCowen, Dennis Moore, Larry Todd
Also attending for the town: board of selectmen: Richard Bisk, Edith Morgan, Karen Cruise, BOS secretary
Nina Nazarian, town administrator
Mary Jo Wojtusik, advisory board
For the fire department: chief John Bennett, deputy chief Tim Kelly
This first meeting of the facilities steering committee Phase II (FSC2) was held as a joint meeting with the board of selectmen.
Nina handed out a sheet with the agenda for the joint meeting; the focus was the charge given the committee which is primarily to prepare voters for a special town meeting later in the fall.
Comments from the board of selectmen included:
We need to provide answers to the questions raised after the election about the proposed public safety building.
$500K was approved at town meeting which was not contingent on the debt exclusion vote.
The project is on the state grant list and having design work done would probably improve our chances of receiving a grant.
There was general discussion about the need to review the $7 million cost and look to reduce it or provide more information to justify it.
We need to quickly review the option of keeping part of the old school.
The FSC2 needs to review their charge and let Nina and the BOS know if they feel the charge needs to be changed.
At 7:50 the FCS2 met on their own; the meeting included fire chief John Bennett and deputy chief Tim Kelly.
The members of the committee introduced themselves and gave a little background. The positions of chair and clerk were considered.
Richard Chase was elected chairman and Larry Todd was elected clerk. The vote was unanimous for both.
The FSC2 will meet on Tuesdays, 7pm, probably at the council on aging. A list of email addresses was given to Larry to communicate the minutes.
There was general discussion among the group and the representatives of the fire department. Questions raised included:
Are there ways to save on the project ?
Can we review other similar projects and their facilities and cost ?
What are the public safety codes for this type of project ?
The meeting was adjourned at 8:32pm
Submitted by Larry Todd, clerk
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