Fire Chief Seeks Stimulus Bucks for New HQ

by Marcia Chambers | May 17, 2009 10:16 PM | | Comments (6)

DSC00786.JPGFire Chief Jack Ahern wants to apply for an $8 million federal stimulus grant to build a new fire headquarters on North Main Street, but he needs $481, 000 from the town to get the project ready for bid.

Sounds simple, especially since a new fire headquarters is a town priority. The current building is in deplorable condition.

But the chief faces a dilemma that only the Board of Finance can solve. Before he can apply for the $481,000 and complete the application that is due in August, the board must first reverse its policy curtailing the construction of major capital projects.

The Board of Finance has deferred major construction projects until it knows whether the town will have to pay a multimillion judgment in the Tabor eminent domain case.

Oral arguments in the Tabor case will take place before the Connecticut Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 26, at 10 a.m. A decision is not likely for months. Depending upon the ruling, the long-running case, which began in 2002, may not be resolved until 2011, the Board of Finance has said.

But by then the town will have lost its ability to compete for this grant.

First Selectman Unk DaRos told the Board of Finance late last month that the town would be crazy not to apply for the grant to construct a 30,000-square foot building. The board seemed intrigued with the prospect of possibly obtaining major federal funding to replace the aging, 46-year-old building.

DaRos told the board that “there is about $210 million out there for the State of Connecticut to build 24 or 25 firehouses across the state, which probably puts us in a pretty good position to build a station.”

A new fire headquarters is tied at the hip to the Department of Public Works, whose building is located next door to the Fire Department’s building. (See current configuration below.) Its site would be used for the new Fire Department headquarters.

DSC00794.JPGDaRos suggested that public works be moved temporarily to an available warehouse. Then, if the town wins the $8 million grant, the new firehouse would be constructed on the public works site and the current fire department building would continue to operate while the new one was being built.

“I did call various warehouses,” DaRos told the Board of Finance. “It is simple to move public works. And there are garages available for them as well. I have checked that out. The clean-up would be minimal because we own the property,” he added.

DSC00791.JPGDaRos announced last February that public works eventually will have a new home at the Tabor site, which the town owns.

Originally the combined cost of both projects was about $17 million, but that estimate came before the federal stimulus grants were announced. The town’s project must be “shovel ready” to apply.

Board member Charles Shelton asked: “If we grant the funds for site design and construction documents and bids are due Aug. 17, will you have enough time to do it?”

DSC00789.JPG“Yes,” Ahern replied. He told the board the town has a good chance of winning a grant. “It is our feeling that the more shovel ready we are, the better chance we have.” He added that “we do have a design and it is very beautiful.” The Representative Town Meeting approved funds for the architecture drawings in March, 2008.

Joseph Mooney, the chair of the Board of Finance, seemed intrigued. “We should probably schedule a special meeting,” he said. The meeting will be held this Wednesday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Canoe Brook Senior Center.

If the town gets to apply and wins a grant, then the Department of Public Works, whose building is adjacent to fire headquarters, would be moved to a rented space and the new fire headquarters would be erected on the public works site.

Under the federal formula, the stimulus funding would be used to pay 80 percent of the funds while the town would pay the remaining 20 percent.

DSC00788.JPGAhern said he learned about the competitive grants in a letter from Governor M. Jodi Rell. She said that fire station construction funding will be available through a U.S. Homeland Security Department grant. The key is that the project must be shovel ready — as the Amtrak Bridge project was. The town has received a $75 million grant for the Amtrak project.

While DaRos was enthusiastic, Republican Third Selectman John Opie was cautious. Opie, who is expected to run against DaRos in the upcoming first selectman’s race, was not sure this was the way to go. He said he prefers a regional approach that would ultimately keep both the Fire Department and public works buildings on the same site.

“If we agree to accept the grant money, we are essentially committing to spend the balance of perhaps $13 million at the same time,” he said. “As tempting as the grant may be, I think we should be looking more at the ‘big picture’ and the opportunities that may be available to us.”

For Opie the big picture centers on a mini-regional plan that would explore a new firehouse at the common intersections of Branford, North Branford and Guilford.

“I always like to see at least some effort put forward towards exploring cooperation with our neighboring towns on big ticket equipment and facilities,” he said.

“As time goes on, a fire station at the common intersection of our three towns may well be necessary. If it could be a joint venture with shared costs, that sounds like a reasonable solution to me. Perhaps it could house a pair of aerial trucks [one new, one back up] plus other equipment we share as a region.

“If, at the same time, the extra space that would afford could reduce the need for a much expanded ‘Main Fire House,’ perhaps ours could continue sharing the present site with Public Works, saving Branford the additional expense of a new site for them.

“I’m sure the unions will hate the idea as will the municipal department heads who will say, ‘It can’t be done,’ but such is the challenge of management …”

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Comments

Posted by: anon | May 18, 2009 10:48 AM

NHI / Ms Chambers: Why do you cover economic development issues in all towns, but when it comes to crime and violence, you stop at the New Haven border?

Doing so gives your readers the impression that crime and traffic crashes occur only in the center city, when statistically speaking, the suburbs are far more dangerous places to live.

Please balance your coverage so that your readers can find out the dirty secrets of our suburban towns, not just information on the latest stimulus strip mall, useless highway overpass, or new Wal Mart.

[Editor's Note: We don't cover economic development in all towns. We cover the city of New Haven. And we have a Branford section, which you're reading here. No North Haven, no Hamden, etc. The Branford edition covers economic development, crime, etc. in that town. This was pointed out the last time you posted this same comment on a Branford economic development story -- but didn't post the same comment on Branford crime stories. Not sure if you're interested in information here or not. -- Paul]

Posted by: susan barnes | May 18, 2009 1:26 PM

If I remember correctly, I believe I heard recently that Branford has the highest crime rate of the shoreline towns. Continued reports have been made on the fire/murder in Short Beach, the death at the truck stop, the drug bust on Church Street. Does all this make you feel better? WHAT is it you want, ANON? Are you missing some personal press here? Reveal your name and perhaps someone will help you out. Marcia, Diane and Sally have NO responsibility to report on anything that goes on in New Haven. Talk to those who do.

Posted by: anon | May 18, 2009 1:40 PM

Thank you, I didn't see the earlier response. Although the NHI does a noble job trying to cover issues fairly (including some great coverage of community policing in Branford last year), I would still submit that there are some disparities in the overall coverage when it comes to the "inner city" versus the supposedly leafy and quiet suburbs. For example, 15 violent robberies, 30 assaults and 58 burglaries have been reported over the past 12 months in the Branford PD jurisdiction, and I don't remember seeing anything in the sidebar about gunpoint assaults, commercial robberies or breakins there, even though you regularly highlight less serious crime issues in New Haven.

Also, though you do not provide coverage of other towns, you do sometimes link to articles written by other news sources in some of those towns.

These disparities are up to the paper to consider and address. Maybe it's just about access to the information?

Posted by: Susan Barnes | May 20, 2009 11:32 PM

THE BOF dealt with this issue this evening. Because Public Works will have to be relocated in order to begin the new fire station, a great deal of the discussion revolved around that relocation.
Ms. Plaziak, the town engineer, advocated approving the necessary funds to have that project "shovel ready" also, so that both the new fire house and the new public works garage could proceed whenever funds became available. While it is possible that public works might have to move a temporary location, the ultimate plan is to locate it at the Tabor property. I asked
why, when a previous Da Ros administration seized all 77 acres of the Tabor Property due to contamination, would the current Da Ros administration advocate that our town employees be relocated there, and why would ballfields be planned for the site as shown in the town's master plan. I suggested that if the contamination, Da Ros cited as the reason for seizure of the property was real, then was it not possible that the town would need to purchase additional property to accommodate the new public works building so as to protect our town employees. Ms. Plaziak assured the audience that extensive testing had been done and the building located away from the "plume" , so there was no problem. ( All the while, Mr. Walsh, sitting beside me, kept telling me the reason for seizure was "POTENTIAL" contamination. )WHY then was this extensive testing described by Ms. Plaziak not done before taking private property from its rightful owners - and then compensating them at an insultingly ridiculously low price? At an RTM meeting a couple of months back, after a discussion with the DEP and the EPA, I questioned the seizure of ALL 77 acres of this property, rather than just a few to create a buffer between the landfill and the bulk of the acreage. I was told by Mr. Da Ros, that there was CADMIUM, MERCURY, ARSENIC AND CYANIDE present! When I and another member of the public raised our hands to speak to Ms. Plaziak's justification, we were told by Mr. Cassella - (you know the BOF member who replaced the BOE member as DTC chair - anyone see a continuing conflict of interest here? Pick a position, Mr. Casella) that the floor was "CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC!" The public was given no more that 4-5 minutes! I hope the taxpayers and voters in the town of Branford are paying close attention to these shenanigans that result in muzzling the public who PAYS the money for all these projects. Citizens can no longer speak out, question or disagree. They are simply shut off.
Remember Unk's campaign promise of TRANSPARENCY? What a joke!

Posted by: Pat Santoro | May 24, 2009 9:58 AM

Susan,
Great explanation of the issues and the negative path our elected officials are following. Unfortunately, apathy runs rampant in Branford.If you do speak out, you are shut down and not afforded the privilege of exercising your First Amendment rights. The elected officials look upon your rhetoric as though there is some hidden agenda.They wouldn't acknowledge the truth as it would only emphasize their total ignorance of the issues and the impact of the issues on the taxpayer....

Posted by: susan barnes | May 25, 2009 1:56 PM

Well, Pat, the article on Unk & Fran announcing their plans to run again in the fall met with FEW and only NEGATIVE remarks. Maybe, there is hope for change.

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