ATHOL — A variety of issues related to the needs of Athol’s Fire Department consumed most of the discussion between the town’s Finance and Warrant Advisory and Capital Program committees at a Nov. 29 meeting. The purpose of the session was talk about likely capital expenditures the town will need to consider for the future, including in the next fiscal year.
The discussion included consideration of razing the old fire station on Exchange Street and replacing it with a new downtown station. The old station currently houses equipment and some older vehicles. And, while not directly a capital spending issue, the topic of increased staffing for the department was also raised.
“Everything in that building is for the Fire Department,” said CPC member Jim Smith. “There’s no need for that building; that building should come down. In my opinion, I think it’s a safety hazard. Somebody is going to walk by there some day and a brick is going to fall on them. Something is going to happen and it’s not going to be good. That’s just my opinion.
“It’s not salvageable. It’s going to be difficult for the town. The only way you could probably take it down is to build another fire station and tie it in to the other properties around it,” he said.
“If you decide to fund some of these things, such as a new fire station,” said Gary Deyo, who is a member of both committees, “you also have to figure what you’re going to have to do with the town budget because you’re going to need more people to man a downtown fire station. Are you going to have two ambulances — one stationed downtown, one stationed uptown? It’s not only a building you’re talking about, you really have to figure out what the other costs are going to be.”
Town Manager Shaun Suhoski said he has been instructed by the Selectboard to examine various staffing models for the Fire Department, from both the staffing and service perspectives.
“We’re looking for something that’s not going to continue to drive overtime and mandatory callbacks,” he said.
“Are you looking at staffing for one station as opposed to two stations?” Deyo asked.
“There’s a reason for 120 years that Athol had two stations,” Suhoski responded. “The business hub is still downtown. There’s still a large population center down here.
“And then, the uptown station, they had a major cleaning out of surplus equipment after Chief Guarnera was hired to try to create more space.”
Suhoski noted that the department answers “well over” 3,000 calls a year, an increase of 45% over the past eight years. He added that the development of North Quabbin Commons has led to an increased number of calls for police and fire due to shoplifting incidents and motor vehicle accidents.
“We’re really stretching our staff and facilities,” Suhoski continued. “People need to know that; then they can make a decision as to what level of service they want. I do see a need for more staff. They could double-bunk where they’re at, but for other reasons, I think we need to look again at the downtown area to supplement the facilities we have. But I don’t have anything more than that to offer tonight.”
The town manager said an ad hoc committee has been formed to examine the department’s overall staffing needs.
FWAC chairman Ken Duffy, a member of that committee, said, “We started out looking at the personnel part of it, then we morphed that into, well, if we’re looking at the big picture just to see what this all entails, we’re looking at a second station.
“They’re kind of looking at trying to divide the town up, and with the all the schools and the hospital up that way (near Uptown Athol) and a lot of the inhabitants, including senior citizens this way (near downtown), the town always had two and we’ve got to look at that.”
Duffy was then quick to point out that any solution, such as a second fire station, isn’t under immediate consideration.
“The issue here, no matter what we do,” he said, “it isn’t going to fit in the town budget. We can’t just add ‘X’ number of people. We can add a person from time to time, but we’re not going to be able to correct this with a single person, the way a fire department works.
“First of all, what do we need? Can we operate out of one or is it beneficial to go back to the old two-station system? Then, how do accomplish that? You can’t do it within the town budget.”
“You’re going to have to put money in for a capital plan,” Smith said. “You can have as many people as you want but you need the equipment to open another station to begin with.”
“We’re just looking at it right now,” Duffy said. “The main focus right now is the personnel issue. You need to see how that works, then based on that, does it work good with one (station), does it require two? Where would the second one be?”
The two committees will be meeting again in the near future to discuss capital spending requests from the various municipal departments for fiscal year 2024. Recommended capital expenditures will then go before the annual Town Meeting in June for consideration by the voters.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.