MINUTES
WATERTOW=
N TOWN
COUNCIL
PUBLIC H=
EARING
(#1)
MONDAY,
OCTOBER 20, 2003, 7:00 P.M.
PRESENT: = &nb= sp; Elaine Adams
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Lee Archer
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Raymond Hebert (arrived at 7:15 p.m.)
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Raymond Primini
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Paul Rinaldi
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Paul Valenti
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Richard Wick
ABSENT: &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Robert
Kane
&=
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nbsp; &nbs=
p; Jean
King
OTHERS PRESENT: Meredith Robson, Town Manager
1.&nb= sp; Convene Public Hearing - 7:00 P.M.
Mr. Archer, Chair= man, called the Public Hearing to order at 7:09 p.m.
Mr. Archer, Chair= man, read aloud the following Notice of the Public Hearing for the record:
CORRECTED
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
TOWN COUNCIL
WATERTOWN, CONNECTICUT
OCTOBER 20, 2003
The Town Council of the Town of Watertown will hold a Public Hearing at Waterto= wn High School, 324 French Street, Watertown, Connecticut, on Monday, October = 20, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. to consider the following proposed ordinance:
AN ORDINANCE APPROPRIATING $5,420,000 FOR FIRE HOUSE STATION #1 RENOVATION AND EXPANSION, AND AUTHORIZAING THE ISSUE OF BONDS OR NOTES AND TEMPORARY NOTES= TO FINANCE SAID APPROPRIATION.
Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing (#1)
October 20, 2003
Page 2
Copies of proposed Ordinance are on file with the Town Clerk of the Town of Watertown. Eligible voters and affected perso= ns will be heard at the Public Hearing concerning the proposed ordinance.
Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 10th day of October, 2003.
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= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; Meredith S. Robson, Town Manager
CERTIFICATE OF NOTICE
I = HEREBY CERTIFY that on October 11, 2003 I caused a copy of the foregoing corrected notice of Public Hearing to be published in the Republican American, which newspaper has a general and substantial circulation in the Town of Watertow= n; that I caused a copy of the foregoing notice of Public Hearing to be posted= on the public signposts in the Town of Watertown on October 9, 2003 and correc= ted notice of Public Hearing on October 10, 2003 and that all of such acts took place at least five days before the holding of said Public Hearing on Octob= er 16, 2003 and that such notice has been filed with the Town Clerk in the rec= ords of the Town.
Da= ted: October 10, 2003.
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&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = Meredith S. Robson, Town Manager
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = Town of Watertown
TOWN CLERK’S CERTIFICATE AS TO NOTICE
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the attached warning and notice are duly recorded in the records of the Town of Watertown, Connecticut, and that the following person was the duly appointed Town Manager of the Town on the date the attached warning and notice was signed: Meredith S. Robson.
Signed and sealed at Watertown, Connecticut this 10th day of October, 2003.
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&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Virginia Stewart, Town Clerk
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Town of Watertown
Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing (#1)
October 20, 2003
Page 3
2. =
Public
Participation
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer: This is to hear comments from people on the fire house renovations. First up we have a presentation fr= om Larry Black and the architect to explain what the renovations are.
<=
span
style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &=
nbsp; Larry
Black, Fire Chief
<=
b>
<= b> &= nbsp; Chief Black: We have a very sho= rt power point presentation to show you. Jeff McIlraevy is with me tonight from Kaestle Boos, and he will take over in a couple of minutes.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; I wanted to go over first the reasons that we’re doing this. There are numerous reasons, but I’m going to highlight a couple of them and I can answer questions regarding other ones afterwards. One of the primary reasons, although we hope that most of our firefighters don’t become handicapped, but anyone in the public who wishes to come into the building right now cannot legally enter the building because there is no handicapped access to any of the floors, and our garage doors don’t count by the way for some reason, but our front doors are elevated a few inches and we have no elevator to get to any different level= .
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Safety and overcrowding is probably one of our biggest reasons for doing this and I have a few slides that help you visualize that, and we certainly invite any= one to come down and see for themselves what we’re talking bout. As you can see from this picture, = the space is very tight and the engine on the right there, you have to turn sideways and be a fairly thin person to walk in between the columns, and wh= ere we store our gear there between the engines. This is not normally a problem, bu= t it is a problem when we respond to alarms, so the engines are being started and being moved out at different times, and our people are running in between t= hem and trying to get their gear on and get onto the pieces. It causes a very dangerous situation. We’ve been fortunate to have little or no accidents, although several years ago we did have someone pinned between some engines, I believe there was a broken leg = at that time. This is just anoth= er view of the other side, which indicates the problem that we’re experiencing. The bottom righ= t of this photo shows the distance between the front of the engines and the gara= ge doors, which is about 18 inches or so.&nbs= p; The top left photo is a picture of Engine #1 and #5 as they are norm= ally parked, about 10 inches of space between the 2 of them and Engine #4 is par= ked against the (inaudible) and that’s about 2 inches of space. You can’t access anything th= ere without moving the engines out.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Height restrictions are also a problem. We now order our apparatus to fit the building and start ordering our apparatu= s to be efficient and be able to help us at incident scenes, so we order our apparatus to fit the building. You can see the ladder truck has about 3 inches of space between it and the cen= ter carrying beam of the building.
Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing (#1)
October 20, 2003
Page 4
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Our gear storage is a problem. It’s in cabinets, it’s = on racks, it’s spread out throughout the apparatus floor. It’s not the best situation = to be in because again they’re getting dressed in between moving apparatus while they’re getting ready to go out to an alarm, and the exhaust fu= mes from the apparatus, which eventually covers everything in the building, and= we have to paint it about every 3 years because of that. It also accumulates on their gear = as well.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Storage is another problem; we have nothing left, whether it’s office storage= , or fire supplies, firefighting supplies, kitchen storage, no matter where it i= s in the building there’s just no place left to store anything and this may look very messy, but it’s really put in in a way where we can snake in between things in order to get what we need, but very often we need to store things, we have an outside container where we’ve added things that are getting damaged because they’re outside in the cold and the dampness = so we really need to increase the amount of storage.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Our mechanical systems for the most part are 1952 vintage, which is when the building was built so they’re over 50 years old. Our electrical is maxed out. When we have breakfasts or meals t= hat we cook in the kitchen, we have to drop extension cords out the window down to= the next floor to plug them in somewhere else so that we don’t pop the circuits when we have more than one coffee pot running or an electric gridd= le, so our electrical system is in dire need of renovations even if we don̵= 7;t do this proposal.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; The furnace is the original steam boiler, 1952. The asbestos has been removed. You’re not looking at any as= bestos there. That was done several = years ago, but according to our furnace people it is on its last leg and will hav= e to be replaced soon whether we do this or not, so our whole heating system is = in need of replacement.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Our water supply is a 2 (inaudible) supply.&nb= sp; It takes over 20 minutes to fill our tanker using this size piping.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> There is piping throughout the bui= lding, although it’s not rotting or falling apart, it needs to be upgraded in many areas to give us the flow and supply we need to function.
<= o:p>
<=
span
style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &=
nbsp; The
ceiling in the basement, that’s again a picture of our heating system
from 1952. Those black boxes =
are
all actuator valves that control the steam as it goes to different zones.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Office space is a big problem, not so much for the guys out there on the floor, but for the Fire Marshall and the Secretary and myself and the Deputy, and the officers who really have no space to work at all. It’s very, very tight. Our filing cabinets are mixed in a= mong where we sit. We have no plac= e to put anything. Our copier mach= ine is on the second floor, we have to go back and forth, which keeps us all in go= od shape but really isn’t very functional office space.
Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing (#1)
October 20, 2003
Page 5
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Our kitchen was built in 1952 along with the rest of the building. The cabinets have never been changed. We have one refriger= ator that we purchased a few years ago, and the stove was changed from a domestic electric four burner stove to a 6 burner gas stove. Other than that, there are no dish= washer or freezer capabilities. The refrigerator is just one that we all have in our homes, and we feed and ser= ve up to 120 people several times during the year. Our guys do a great job with what = we have, but we really need a more commercial type of kitchen to serve us and = also to serve the public because our buidling is a secondary shelter in case of a disaster of any type.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; At this point I’m going to turn it over to Jeff and he’s going to = go through the proposal for you.
<= o:p>
<=
span
style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &=
nbsp; Jeff
McIlraevy, Kaestle Boos & Associates
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. McIlraevy: Last year the National Fire Protection Association and the Federal Emergency Management Agency published their report, The Needs Assessment of the U.S. Fire Servic= e, and the report was in response obviously to the renewed interest nationally about our state of readiness for dealing with emergency situations. If you go through the report it co= vers a lot of different areas. It ta= lks about the training of our firefighters, the kind of emergency situations th= at they have the equipment and training to respond to, but it also has a big section in there that talks about the condition of our emergency facilities, specifically our Fire and EMS facilities, the buildings that we’re working out of, and after you read the report you find out something that Watertown is well familiar with, that nationally we are in desperate need of updating and restoring our emergency medical services to the capability we = need to respond to the difficulties that we face in today’s world. The Town needs to feel like we’ve got something we have to deal with, but we’re not alone in this, this is something that’s being faced nationally.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; In your case you’ve got a building that has served you well; although ma= ny of its systems are degrading we do have a very sturdy and well built shell. The concrete structure= that we’ve got is a real benefit to us, at the same time it’s a real bane to us because it’s well built around trucks that were a lot smal= ler, emergency fire apparatus was a lot smaller than what is common today, and so when we look at the needs of accommodating the new equipment with the proper clearances and with all of the new functionalities that go along with all of those different kinds of equipment and devices we need to rescue situations= in today’s world, we find we’ve got a real challenge to deal with.=
Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing (#1)
October 20, 2003
Page 6
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; The area in gray is the existing building.&nbs= p; We’ve got a lot of renovation work, restoring mechanical syste= ms, installing a sprinkler system, making handicapped accessibility modificatio= ns, getting the building up and operational, but we’ve also got to deal w= ith those issues, those space issues that you saw in the apparatus bay. We took a look at the existing app= aratus bay that we have, and of course you see some nice bays going along the natu= ral assumption is to let’s add a couple more over here and solve that problem. Unfortunately we don’t own that property. We spent a little time and came up with the solution to get 2 large bays over = on the right hand side looking at the drawing, to accommodate our biggest vehi= cles We can take care of our height restrictions for our ladder truck and for so= me of our bigger engines we can get the proper clearance around those and then salvage some of the existing bays for the smaller vehicles. Now we’ve got some excess bay space available since we’ve accommodated the big bay space that allow= s us to take care of some of our infrastructure issues, not only the office issu= es that the Chief talked about, but some of those important backup facilities,= for instance the turnout gear room you saw in the photographs, the turnout gear between the trucks. By having= the turnout gear room we can get that gear out between the trucks and have a sa= fer place to access the turnout gear when you’re responding to a fire. We also get some decontamination facilities, something that is required by the N.F.P.A. now in fire stations as well as an appropriate S.C.B.A. room, that’s a self contained reading apparatus maintenance and charging room. It’s very importa= nt that you have the appropriate environment for that work; obviously the fill= ing of air bottles that our firefighters will be using in a fire situation.
<= o:p>
<=
span
style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &=
nbsp; Upstairs
(inaudible) division up there to add some classroom space so we can deal wi=
th
that training issue that we talked about from the needs assessment. It’s very important that we =
have
appropriate training facilities to conduct all of the training situations.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We’re also doing some handic=
apped
modifications, some new restrooms to satisfy our code requirement (inaudibl=
e)
as well as our handicapped accessibility, getting an elevator into the buil=
ding
to satisfy the A.D.A. requirements, and again dealing with some storage.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; In the lower level in the basement we do have, if you’re familiar with t= he site, the site drops away from the roadway so we get kind of a walk out basement to the lower level. = This is kind of found opportunity to get some real good storage space for some additional vehicles, some lesser used vehicles, as well as some locker facilities for the staff and the remainder of our office needs. Again dealing with the big storage= issue that the Chief pointed out.
Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing (#1)
October 20, 2003
Page 7
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Finally we get to take a look at the idea of what this looks like. Again here is that existing building. We’re removin= g one of the apparatus bat doors to get some added office space. You can see the = two new bays down at the end. We = do have a little bit of a grade issue that we’re dealing with as we move along that way, but that helps us to keep the same floor (inaudible) and get the added height that we need for the larger vehicles at that end of the building. The new entryway fo= r the public, and this is a real important thing when we talk about the design of fire facilities, we want to make sure we have separate circulation patterns= for the emergency responding staff as well as the public visitors. As it is right now, when you drive= in right now you’re essentially right in the apparatus apron when you pu= ll in in your public vehicles to visit the station. Because we have a little bit more = room in here, we had the opportunity to get a separate area for these vehicles so they are not in the way of the apparatus bay doors if an emergency should happen.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; The biggest change on the outside is adding the pitched roof construction. Obviously we’ve got an old a= nd deteriorating roof and we want to take care of that problem. The pitched roof gives the buildin= g a lot more character as well as eliminating some of those common problems that occur with minimal sloped roofs in New England. It alters the appearance and gives= it a lot more character as well. T= hat is an overview of what we’re doing.
<= o:p>
<=
span
style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &=
nbsp; Gary
Lafferty, 191 Tucker Avenue, Oakville, CT&=
nbsp;
06779
<=
b>
<= b> &= nbsp; Mr. Lafferty: The Town is desperately in need for improvement for all of their firehouses, future facilities and that. I’= m for the referendum.
<= o:p>
<=
span
style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &=
nbsp; Dave
Hardt, 33 Deanna Court, Oakville, CT
06779
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Hardt: I’m here ton= ight to show support for the proposal in front of you. It’s about 18 months of work= with the Buildings Committee and a lot of time and effort has gone into designing with the architects. I’= m just here to show support.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Rinaldi: I don’t kn= ow who would want to take it but (inaudible).&nbs= p; I guess this is directed towards the architect or the Chief. The two proposed doors, they are t= aller and wider than the existing doors?
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. McIlraevy: Yes. We actually do a 14 foot door. If you’ve ever noticed drivi= ng along the road you look up and the overpasses have signs - clearance 13R= 17; 9”, so that kind of sets the standards, so 14 feet should (inaudible). As far as I can = see in the future accommodate that, vehicle’s size.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Ms. Adams: What material are = you using for the roofing, shingling or metal?
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. McIlraevy: We’ve indicated as metal.
Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing (#1)
October 20, 2003
Page 8
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Primini: Chief, I donR= 17;t now if you could point out the age and condition of the present roof right = now?
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Chief Black: I know it’s = been replaced a couple of times. I believe it’s maybe about 15 – 18 years old right now. Our biggest problem is hopefully t= aken care of at the moment, but every year we develop a few more.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Wick: Will this design re= quire purchasing that little bit of land to the south of the existing property?
<= o:p>
<= b> &= nbsp; Chief Black: Yes it will, and we’ve been in touch with the landowner there and we had a meeting last week. It looks very promising, we’re waiting for Zoning to come up to answer a couple of questions t= hat the owner had regarding parking spaces and some access questions that she h= ad, to make sure that by us receiving this property that she’s not locked into some of the expansion that she would hopefully do in the future, but s= he seemed, I think Meredith can agree that she was very willing to go this rou= te as long as we can come up with a couple of small answers, and I don’t look at them as big problems, I think they’re very small problems.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Ms. Robson: There is also the CL&P piece.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Chief Black: Yes, on the French Street side. If you know wher= e our rear entrance is to the firehouse it’s from there down the hill to wh= ere Mark’s Landscaping owns a small piece. They have given us a price for tha= t and that’s included in this bond request. That will move our rear driveway f= urther down the hill and make it much safer, almost down to where Depot Street com= es out, and make a much safer entrance to the rear of the firehouse.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Wick: So as far as acquis= ition is concerned of additional land, you essentially have a contract with CL&am= p;P, subject to the referendum passing?
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Ms. Robson: It’s not a contract; it’s just an agreement on price at this point, pending what= ever happens with the referendum.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Wick: But It’s not = likely that we will be hit with an unpleasant surprise?
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Ms. Robson: No.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Valenti: I know you’= ;ve worked hard on a long range plan for the Town, is that not correct?
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Chief Black: Yes, it is.
Watertown Town Council
Public Hearing (#1)
October 20, 2003
Page 9
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Valenti: So the taxpayers= can be assured that by doing this work it will yield a long term return for the Town, is that correct?
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Chief Black: Yes. It’s part of a 10 year plan = with this building first, either the addition of another firehouse in the north = end of Town depending on development and some other issues up there, or renovat= ions to Company 2 and somewhere in the 5 year area, and at the end of the 10 yea= rs would be whichever one of those 2 we don’t do. We’re looking here at planni= ng a building that we hope will take us 50 years into the future, that’s w= hat the committees were looking at.
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Valenti: So we’ll g= et a long term return on our investment?
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Chief Black: That’s what we’re trying to do here, yes.
<= o:p>
<=
span
style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &=
nbsp; Earl
Gibbons, 74 Franklin Avenue, Oakville, CT&=
nbsp;
06779
<= o:p>
<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; Mr. Gibbons: I’m for th= is project. The only thing I don’t like is above the apparatus floor there is no second floor, and= I think we should put it on. I = think it was a price of like $250,000 extra.&nbs= p; Over the new apparatus floor.
<= o:p>
3.&nb=
sp; Adjournment
Mr. Archer, Chairman, Closed the Public Hearing at 7:33 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lee Archer, Chairman
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = Watertown Town Council
A= pproved: _______________________________
Lynn M. LaF= orme, Clerk