Safety building going to vote
$7.2M facility would combine police, firefighters under one roof
ASHBY » The town has scheduled a Special Town Meeting for Saturday, with town officials aiming for an outdoor meeting because of coronavirus concerns.
There are just five articles on the warrant and the meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Ashby Elementary School parking lot.
The key issue to be decided at Town Meeting will be funding for a new public safety building that would house the Ashby Police Department, which is currently behind Town Hall, and the town’s fire station.
The project will likely cost about $7.2 million, Town Administrator Bob Hanson said earlier this year.
The warrant article, if approved, would allow the town to appropriate funding to pay for the construction of the building. It would also authorize the Board of Selectmen to solicit grant opportunities or propose a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion.
In 2018, Town Meeting voted to allow the town to spend $540,000 on final planning, design, construction plans, and bid services for the building.
The Board of Selectmen also appointed six individuals to the building committee and selected Chicopee-based company Caolo & Bieniek Architects to design the new building. Colliers International of Agawam was chosen as the owner’s project manager.
Plans have been drawn up for a public safety building that would contain the police and fire departments at 1093 Main St., the site of the current fire station.
The current police station at 893 Main St. is a former modular classroom that is more than 50 years old. The double-wide manufactured building has a leaking
roof and doesn’t have a jail cell to house prisoners, which has cost the town money, Hanson said.
“If you want to have a functioning police force, you give it a dependable building that is capable of allowing them to do their job,” said Hanson. “It was the stopgap 20 years ago, and it’s reached the end
of its stopgap career. The band-aid is falling off.”
The fire station is also showing signs of its age, and Fire Chief Mike Bussell said earlier this month that it’s inadequate in terms of size.
“The town needs this safety building because the existing buildings are not, in any conceivable world or reality, going to last much longer,” said Hanson.
There was a proposal to build a new police station in 2008, but the project was rejected at a Town Meeting by residents.
Voters will also be asked to consider two appropriations related to the Highway Department.
The first article would transfer $82,000 from available funds to purchase a utility truck for the department, if approved.
The second article would create an additional position in the department through the end of the current fiscal year. The town is asking for $30,800 for the position.
Additionally, voters will have to consider an article which would amend an article approved at the Annual Town Meeting in June, which appropriated $142,000 to purchase breathing apparatus for the Fire Department.
The amendment being considered on Saturday would allow the town to also purchase thermal cameras and turnout gear. There is no additional funding to be appropriated.
Another article would allow the town to transfer $10,000 from the reserve fund to the unemployment insurance line in the budget.