An open forum to discuss building a new fire station in Williamstown, Massachusetts is scheduled for Wednesday. In addition to getting a presentation on the proposed design, town residents can hear from project heads and officials and ask questions about the $18 million undertaking. A vote at a December 7th special meeting will determine if Williamstown moves forward with the plan. Jim Kolesar is a member of the town’s fire district building committee. He tells WAMC that the town’s current station is dangerously small and in desperate need of an overhaul.
KOLESAR: Our fire station was built in 1950, which is actually here I was built too- And both of us have been showing our age for a long time now. And saying that isn't to make light of a really important situation with our fire station. For too long our firefighters have been working in conditions that we know don't meet modern operational standards, don't meet modern safety standards. But because other projects and so on have taken a priority, this project is only coming up now. So, it's time, we believe, for there to be a modern, safe, operational, and environmentally responsible fire station for Williamstown. But regarding Wednesday night, Wednesday night will be a chance for town residents to come learn why and how the proposed building is designed the way it is. We'll have representatives of the architecture firms and engineering firms, and in particular, have our- they’ll all be in person, Zooming in will be our lead designer, a guy named Bob Mitchell, who's a national expert on building exactly this kind of fire stations that are safe, operationally strong and environmentally responsible. And so, he'll run us through, again, primarily the why and how of the design of this building. And as someone who's heard him speak, I really find him very thoughtful and articulate on these subjects, and I've learned a whole lot about firefighting in general, and about the fire stations in particular, from interacting with Bob. So, and it will also be a chance, of course, for question and answer. And in fact, we really would like it to be as much of a conversation as possible and less of a presentation, but there is a fair amount of material that we'll want to hear from Bob at the beginning.
WAMC: When we talk about safety issues at the existent fire station, what are some of those issues? And how would a response to those issues be folded into this new vision for the station?
Well, some of the main things are that the vehicles and trucks are closer to each other than they need to be. And also, that the place where equipment is stored is a cluttered area that make for tripping hazards. But the most dramatic thing of all really has to do with the lack of decontamination infrastructure. So, we've been building our houses and other structures in this country with increasingly dangerous materials. And in fires, a lot of that stuff ends up on the firefighters’ uniforms and clothing. And right now when our firefighters from those situations go back to the station, they're hosing each other down outside on the on the driveway and washing their masks in the kitchen sink where food is prepared and other meals are dealt with and so on. It's way below what we as a nation now understand as important for dealing with decontamination of toxic substances from firefighters, which, people say, if you don't do it thoroughly, ends up going home with them as well. And so the danger of this is pretty extensive and pretty important, and pretty important that we deal with it in a timely manner.
Let's talk about the numbers at this point, what costs might be floated out in front of the community at this meeting to build the new fire station that meets these standards?
Well, we do have the first estimate of the construction costs, which came in at just under $18 million. We're continuing to refine a sense of the so-called soft costs, the design and so on, legal for that. And that'll still be being developed over the fall. We'll be able to say some things about that on Wednesday. We find ourselves in a situation, I must say, that the future of construction projects, especially complicated ones like this, face a really sudden increase in inflation, both in labor and goods and also in bond rates. So, we're going to be going and asking in December for a maximum amount to be borrowed, or we don't know what that is yet. And so, we're also vigorously looking for incentives in philanthropy and so on, and grants, government and otherwise. And so the net cost is something that's going to take a while to figure out.
Timeline wise, how do you hope this proceeds moving forward from Wednesday's meeting?
Well, there's a date set to have a vote on the proposed project on December 7th, the evening of December 7th. That would be a special meeting of the fire district. Every registered voter in town has the right to vote at that meeting, and they'll show up and get their little card, and when it comes up for a vote, they'll stand up if they’re voting yes, they'll sit down. The others will stand up and vote no if they want to, and it will require a two-thirds majority to pass because it requires bond financing.
Wednesday’s meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Mount Greylock Regional School.
