The plan to construct the almost $37 million complex for Lee’s police, fire, and emergency services has been years in the making. In town hall Wednesday morning, town manager Chris Brittain hosted a celebration of the federal funding going toward the project.
“Over two years ago, I remember sitting in this room with Chief Brown and Chief DeSantis talking about the need for a new public safety building, and we discussed that our fire station was literally designed for horse drawn equipment, our EMS building is held together right now by emergency supports, and we have a fire- Sorry, police station, rather, that's over 100 years old and about half the size of what we need for our for our current police officers,” he said.
Lee residents voted to support the project at special town meetings in December and June. The latter vote was held to correct a procedural issue with the former.
“So, at that time, it seemed like an impossible task to address all these issues," Brittain continued. "But now, two years later, we have approval from the town residents, we have property acquired for the project, a project manager and architect has been hired, and demolition should be starting this winter. So, this project not only will create a new facility for our first responders, but it also moves our public works department to a newer and better facility, it creates additional community space, and it revitalizes a blighted section of downtown Lee.”
Neal, who has represented Western Massachusetts in Congress since 1989, said he’d secured the money for Lee through the Department of Agriculture. He offered specific praise for the advocacy of outgoing Democratic State Representative Smitty Pignatelli.
“Congratulations to the town of Lee," said the congressman. "Not only is it picturesque and a reminder of Americana, but I was doing some quick arithmetic in the car on the way up, and concluded that Woodrow Wilson was president when the last safety complex was constructed. That gives you a timeline. That, incidentally, is before he proposed the League of Nations. That gives you even a more effective timeline. To the committee members and the select board and to the two chiefs that are here, and to my really great pal, who did a, he did a terrific job advocating for all of you on Beacon Hill, Representative Pignatelli.”
Pignatelli is not seeking re-election this year after two decades on Beacon Hill.
The new 37,000-square foot facility will be sited on Railroad Street. Lee select board chair Gordon Bailey noted that the interest-free million-dollar federal infusion was actually worth even more to the community.
“That's a million dollars we don't have to repay," he said. "And I think one thing people forget is there's interest over those 25 years on that million dollars we don't have to pay. So, what this really amounts to is about $1,600,000 in relief for our townspeople.”
After the press conference, Brittain offered WAMC more details about the public safety facility plan.
“The majority of it is in a bond that was approved by town meeting and town election, and so that will be hitting the tax rate, and we do have some other small grants in progress,” he explained.
It’s Lee’s largest infrastructure undertaking since building a new school in the 90s.
“We had several public meetings where we explained what the impact would be and the bond process," Brittain said. "And again, we didn't need to bring it to town election, but we did for full transparency and to get the support of the public, we did do a debt exclusion vote on that, even though our excess levy capacity could handle the additional debt, we found that was, sorry, important to do.”
Police Chief Craig DeSantis told WAMC that he’s eager to move on from his department’s current headquarters, a series of office spaces across multiple floors and areas of Lee’s town hall.
“What we've seen is second homeowners have been staying here far more often than they had historically been," said the chief. "So that affects the call volume, and we want to make sure you know that we have the staffing and the facilities to serve those public safety needs, and when, any time you expand on a population, then you're going to increase the demand for public safety services.”
