BRATTLEBORO — The last time the town considered building a multimillion-dollar combination fire and police facility in 2001, voters instead approved a $55 million bond issue in renovations for school construction and renovations.
Now, a proposed $10 million combination fire and police facility, which would replace three outdated facilities, is again before the Selectboard for review for the 2012 capital plan.
At the Sept. 1 meeting, Selectboard member Dora Bouboulis, facing members of the police and fire departments, expressed concern about the proposed expense during this economic downtown.
Bouboulis said she understood the need for the proposed facility near Interstate 91's Exit 2 in West Brattleboro, saying that if it was up to her she would give the police and fire departments, “the Taj Mahal.”
Firehouse woes
Firefighters maneuvering trucks in and out of the Elliot Street and West Brattleboro firehouses face difficulties that go well beyond fighting fires.
“The biggest problem is that the apparatus floor bay doors aren't high and wide enough,” said Fire Chief Michael Bucossi, describing the entrance way for fire trucks at both the two firehouses.
Bucossi said that the problems cannot be fixed without the firehouses being rebuilt.
He said that there is no way to raise the cement, waffle-designed ceiling at the Elliot Street firehouse, and when one of their fire trucks was damaged at a fire on South Main Street earlier this year, they weren't able to lease a truck that fit to replace it.
Lieutenant David Emery demonstrated by pulling a fire truck out and back in the Elliot Street firehouse, showing just 2 inches between the top of the truck and the ceiling. Only a few inches separate two trucks parked side by side.
Other problems with both firehouses fall beyond the repair skills of the firefighters, even though many of them have sidelines as carpenters and mechanics.
Ironically, the smoke detectors in the Elliot Street firehouse's kitchen can't filter exhaust. Both firehouses lack a diesel filtration system, so personnel breathe fumes while in their sleeping quarters.
The truck maintenance area, behind the parking area, is not big enough to work on vehicles. If a large maintenance job is taking place, other trucks have to move or stay outside overnight.
To get to his office, the chief has to walk through town events taking place in a public meeting room. It is also impossible to find replacement windows for the outdated buildings.
Bucossi said it would make better use of personnel to have one fire station at one centrally located site.
He does regret that the new facility would replace a firehouse in downtown. Bucossi said that in his 33 years with the fire department, it helped to have the firehouse as a resource in the Elliot Street neighborhood.
Yet, he said, it is important to “do it right so we can plan for the future.”
The Elliot Street firehouse was built in 1949 with some office space added in 1988. The West Brattleboro firehouse, which is on Academy School's property, was built in 1960.
A substandard police station
Police Chief Eugene Wrinn described the foremost problem of the police station, inside the 1883 Brattleboro Municipal Building on Main Street, as the two interview rooms.
“A sexual assault victim could hear rattling,” he said, referring to noise from the cell blocks on the floor below. The noise also affects taped recordings of the police interviews, which also pick up the noise of the public hallway elevator.
The police have to block the hallway as well as pay careful attention to appointment times so that a victim and accuser don't encounter each other.
Any visitor to the police department notices another problem: no waiting room.
A crime victim goes to the same window to see a dispatcher as drunken driving suspects, released on conditions, who have to blow into a tube through the glass to monitor their alcohol levels.
Wrinn also describes holding cells as a major problem. With better holding facilities, two police officers wouldn't have to drive prisoners to the Springfield Correctional Facility within 72 hours as they must now do. The temperature in the cell blocks runs either too hot or too cold.
Two police officers need to walk in front and behind suspects, leading them down the steep stairs to the cell blocks. Since many arrests are for drunken driving, the steep steps aren't safe for many of the prisoners. In the winter there is danger for anyone entering the police station due to falling ice.
The officers' fitness gym in the basement - at times subject to flooding - has that old-basement smell, and the officers share the space with found bikes.
Detectives can't hear their own phone conversations while others are on the phones. The evidence room is the size of a broom closet. The office manager's and dispatcher's offices also lack space. Evidence from all past cases has to be stored in the department. First, it's locked in the hallway, and then after a few years, it is locked in the basement.
The police department internal communication is slowed down by the Municipal Building's very public hallway, which divides the department in half, with detectives on one side and dispatch on the other.
While the new proposed facility would mean that the police department would move from its current downtown location, Wrinn doesn't see the location as a problem.
Police only rarely leave for a call from the department headquarters; instead, they are dispatched via radio from their beats. And, while the current location helps people seeking services in town, “Is that fair to West Brattleboro?” Wrinn asked.
None of the three buildings complies with requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Tough sell?
In this more-difficult economic climate, and with the town already building a $32 million wastewater treatment plant, the facility could be a tough sell for Town Meeting representatives, who will vote on the proposal in 2010 or 2011.
Selectboard Chair Jesse Corum said that in the next few months, the board will revisit the proposal and re-evaluate two massive feasibility studies on new sites from previous years.
The board can also decide if the project can be scaled down by having the current three facilities upgraded instead of rebuilt.
But personnel from the police and fire departments say they have been lobbying for a single new facility because they haven't seen ways to upgrade their three current facilities that wouldn't also be costly.