FARMINGTON — A strategic plan for the future of Farmington Fire Rescue’s staffing, services, building and equipment is needed, most agreed at this week’s meeting between the department and selectmen.

The meeting was called after Farmington Fire Rescue proposed increasing its budget by $270,490, or 50.54% for 2020-21. Most of the increase is for adding two more full-time firefighters and one per diem worker to provide 24/7 coverage.

Among the considerations are the daytime and nighttime populations, homes built farther from downtown, business growth, involving county government and a coordinator for regional firefighting.

“We need a strategic plan now more than ever,” Capt. TD Hardy said.

Acting Fire Chief Tim Hardy said there have been discussions with some Fire Rescue Department personnel about its future.

Looking at the town’s population, Deputy Chief Clyde S. Ross said the 2010 Census was about 7,700.

Town Manager Richard Davis said Farmington gained 350 residents in that census, a 4% increase. He said he doesn’t expect a significant loss in the future.

“One good thing,” he said, “we have stability. We haven’t had factory closings.

“More significant than the number of people is how the characteristics of the town have changed over the years. We’ve become a service center, more like a small city. We have a larger daytime population than nighttime because of our largest employers the hospital, Hannaford, the college.”

Farmington is home to Franklin Memorial Hospital and the University of Maine at Farmington.

Davis said when he tried to track the daytime/nighttime population a few years ago, “There were at least 1,000 in town working who didn’t live here. Those folks come from all over. It puts demands on any community by not paying taxes.

“More people are on the roads, they take a beating. With a changing population, all town departments have to change and adapt,” he said.

Selectman and firefighter Stephan Bunker said one sign of the financial health and well-being of the town is the number of storefronts that are open on Broadway and Main streets.

“We’re one of the few communities that still has a vibrant downtown,” he said. “We worried the downtown would be affected when the big-box stores came in on the Wilton Road but that wasn’t the case.”

Firefighter Junior Turner said people from other towns like coming to Farmington, they liked the atmosphere, when he was in business.

“Since that time the money put into lower Front Street and the buildings that have gone in there has added a big plus to this town,” he said. “It’s definitely grown in the last few years.”

Selectman Chairman Joshua Bell said, “A vibrant university will help the downtown a lot.”

Deputy Fire Chief Ross said people are building houses in places not envisioned when he was younger.

“The town is going away from the center,” he said. “It requires the Fire Department to think about how do you service those areas. Are they building roads according to ordinances? Do we have the apparatus to get there, longer service times for us? Do we continue to rely on volunteers or go with more full-timing? The trend in most Fire Departments today is volunteerism is not there, or locally within the community.”

Selectman Michael Fogg noted meetings were held several years ago to discuss a regional approach to fire protection.

“What we’re lacking is a commissioner/coordinator, someone with an interest in fire protection to coordinate, set up meetings, make plans,” he said, “so no one has any more say than anyone else. It would benefit everybody and would cost everybody money to do that.”

Selectman Scott Landry said the county should take some interest.

“As we grow our fire protection, other towns are going to depend more on us, at some point realize they’re going to have to help invest.”

Fire Chief Terry Bell said, “Before any of this is going to happen, we need to realize we have a problem. I believe a lot of small communities really don’t feel they have a problem. People don’t want to give up their individuality. Until they realize there’s a problem, nothing will change.”

Bunker said, “If something significant happens somebody may be coming in, telling us what we are going to do, when.

“Other towns are benefiting from a quick, active mutual aid but they aren’t supporting it financially,” he said. “If all towns around us put money together we could do things smarter, more cost effectively.”

Capt. Hardy said the department needs a strategic plan for regionalization, a road map to identify where it’s going in five, 10 or 20 years.

“We lack that big time,” he said. “What are the community’s expectations, the level of service they expect?”

If voters approve the Fire Rescue Department’s funding request at the town meeting March 30, changes will have to be made at the fire station. The third floor meeting room would be converted to a dormitory, as originally intended when the complex was built 40 years ago.

Chief Bell said it might be necessary to move the Town Office and use the entire building for the Fire Department in the future.

Another suggestion was publishing something similar to the Franklin County sheriff’s report with information about the number and types of calls answered.

“People don’t know what you do,” Landry said. “The public needs to know.”

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