LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen set up a five-member committee on Tuesday to explore options to build a fire substation in East Livermore within a mile of the intersection of routes 133 and 106.
Voters approved building a one-bay station for a cost not to exceed $20,000 a year for 20 years by a vote of 992-399 on Nov. 3.
“We all know the people have spoken,” Chairman Jeffrey Bryant said.
With COVID-19 cases increasing he said he didn’t want a big committee.
He suggested two selectmen and two representatives of the Fire Rescue Department, including the fire chief, to make it happen. They would review about an acre of land the town owns near Mallard Mart. The size is 150 feet by 400 feet, Bryant said. Among the issues to be resolved are making sure the title is clear, the boundaries are correct, contacting the Office of State Fire Marshal and getting a soil test done, he said.
Bryant said he wanted to be on the committee and Selectman Ernest Souther agreed to be the second board member.
East Livermore resident Carole Barker suggested there be at least two members of the public also on the committee.
Another resident Sheila Scanlon said she would like to be on the committee, noting that she has worked to get the project going.
Bryant said a five-member committee, including Scanlon, would work.
The committee would report back to the whole select board, he said.
Fire Chief Edward Hastings IV said if there is a cost to the initial work, such as making sure the title is clear, he could put a spot in the Fire Rescue Department’s budget to pay those bills. Once a loan or bond is taken out to finance the project, those expenses can be moved to it.
Hastings also said that some of the department’s self-contained breathing apparatus packs will expire in January 2021, adding that there is more than $110,000 in the reserve account.
Voters set up the account in 2012 to replace air packs, starting with $12,960, and continued to add to it. The title of the reserve account changed to general reserve account about three years ago. About $65,000 of that money is in reserve for the packs.
Hastings said he would purchase 14 air packs for $90,000 to $95,000, leaving about $15,000 to $20,000 in reserve. The air packs cost between $7,500 and $8,000 a piece, Hastings said.
Right now there are 12 firefighters qualified to wear the air packs, he said. He is hoping to attract more firefighters to the department. Each truck requires a certain number of packs to be available.
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