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yeah uh do we have anyone on call order you should call a first very good I'm call the meeting of the Emergency Services facilities building committee to order the time is 6:37 um members present Marco tulis Roth Snider M Andi and uh steart Bob for Tyler M so moved and is there anyone online why are we not see hang I can do that I don't think we have anyone because it would be prompting us yeah there just just us something us no one online very good um we have the minutes of the 16th we don't done okay table that one um minutes are being worked on I don't those are 16 oh they are so you printed those out yeah anybody else probably I know sure sorry you may have something to me that could be it doesn't mean I well let's table that for now um president to speak I know that Alex Alex wants to get some things and he has another meeting to go to so let's us jump right into president speak in the interest of time all right thank you um so this is the only board I haven't been able to report to yet regarding um the oosha complaint that was filed against Willington one um there was an um OA complaint filed when don't know who filed it um it was an anonymous complaint regarding the some of the living conditions with inside that building um the major concerns were um exhaust ventilation um the fact that the heat draws because it's a hot or the forc hot air system right it draws from the bay to get the the air for the furnace which means it's pulling whatever mhm out of the Bay into the furnace into the rest of the building um the original complaint had that there was no exhaust over the stove um that they threw out because it's considered residential um does not need an exhaust system um the other big one that they had was no decontamination area within the firehouse for um EMS supplies or EMS equipment um primarily that if they had to wash something in a sink they got to do it in the kitchen which that did not go over very well with o we have to find a way to modify that um so there are some modifications that we have to make regarding exhaust systems fresh air intake we are working through what that cost is going to be um we're we don't have the we know what the final is going to say but we don't have the final report we won't have that they said five to six weeks um would that we know that there will be a couple of fines regarding uh excuse me some oan logs and Reporting um and then the exposure control plan um just not just being out of date not having anything to do with that building um we need specific for that building which none of us really need to bought of um when we thought temporary we didn't think of having to change policies and procedures and stuff like that actually in writing um so that's where we're at with that um so we will be going to the board of Finance with some stuff for this month um from there all right why would you be going to the board of Finance because there are things like the exhaust um systems and stuff like that that we've got to find a way to pay for the building's not even occupied the South Station it has nothing to do with the main station it's all to do with the little station that they're Inon South wion Station has nothing to do with the main station it's for the living conditions that they have right now from the anonymous complaint yes sir so because you guys are dealing with the buildings I wanted you guys so at least be aware of it yeah and you being a fire Corporation the complaint is filed against you correct in the town why first because I don't know how it works first selectman's name is the first one on the complaint St are a private Corporation we work for the town of Willington regardless the same thing Willington Hill had a complaint filed against them it's coming to the town as well I would expect in the end that that's actually probably a technical error on their part I agree but they're going to cast a wide net anyway correct so where they a lot of fire departments are Town agencies correct so so where we and this is what we asked and Ron and I met with them um that was one of the questions we asked is why is the first selectman on there um it's because our workers comp are in everything else it's through the town of Willington so regardless of how you look at it whether they're private employees of Willington fire department number one their workers comp is through the town of Willington it is paid by the town of Willington regardless they are considered in some form F or fashion a town employee well given the fact that the fire station is in part subsidized through the town through the town yeah it it makes sense yeah and I strongly recommend our town attorney review this to make sure that we're not assuming any additional liability that we should not we also should remember as concerned as we are about it it's not in the perview of this committee we're a building committee so the fact that there are oosha violations that matters to us because we might we might want right but as far as like legal strategy um we've got a hope that the board of slack men or maybe the fire Services efficiency committee or whatever can take it up absolutely um yeah um I I did know that the working stop was PID but in town and I guess one could argue that the town directs the employees work which would be the the hook workers cop is who is actually directing the and telling the workers what to do so I guess that makes sense in that regard but the workers comp policy out so to the volunteers side things yeah right that's right that's right which I guess that does make sense pet bring up a good point but like Mike said it's not really AR no no I but that's I understand I wear different hats so you put your SEL hat back a good point I strongly advise that I had I don't I hadn't heard do our due diligence the selectman speak to the legality of it um I don't know if they thought of it um Don regardless um if we have how employees that are at health risk because of building issues those building issues do need to be amended so changed so I think we're trying to work on that good point that I was I wasn't trying to discourage that part no no I understand that it just regardless of where we think the liability lies the fact is if we have workers that are compromised the timing is good which maybe the report the person who anonymously reported Not only was concerned about worker welfare but also the timing um it was strategically good because here we are studying the buildings here we are studying buildings um yeah and the fact of the matter is we just recommended that station 13 get shut down and they all move up there so we've put more people in a residential setting in a building that is compromised as well and I certainly wouldn't have thought of any of those things so makes sense any else all right um what do we do about the minutes some people have them some don't I didn't read them the 16th um I didn't either address that I'm sorry in the in the spirit of speaking about minut we'll table that until next time the minutes are slowly being comprised uh there was a lot of that weight was on my shoulders I didn't do a good job of managing uh that that whole secretary or recording secretary issue uh Shannon has informed me that she won't be doing it any longer Eileen Smith will be I spoke with her uh but she can't make she couldn't make this one because the notice was too short she had a prior commitment but going forward in 2025 she will be present here and she will take the minutes and in a more time you know accurately and post them in a timely manner so we shouldn't have this uh this problem and I did talk to Lisa the recording secretary for the board of Finance okay and she is available if you need oh okay um e called me last night um and said she she's she's fine with it but not tonight she just heard about it on Monday so uh and speaking to I I went to the uh FIA meeting that they the little talk they had at the library and minutes that don't have to be very detailed in fact the person specifically said less is more um I guess the legal requirements sorry you got to have when the meeting was called to order who's present and if there were any motions Made Who voted on them and how so by name you know call it out by role if it's unanimous then it goes by the role but if there was any uh any differences in the vote then you would have to name that and then when you uh I think that when you adjourn and that's that's pretty much it you don't have to have a play byplay what everybody said and particularly since things are reported so that takes a little bit of pressure off the recording secretary but it make sure that please help me if I Stray From those basic foia rules get me back on track uh we don't we don't want to have procedural errors imped our progress and those can most most courts are very willing to sign with the staff or the the members of of a committee but if you don't follow procedures you will usually lose doesn't help your case doesn't help your case because those things should be solid yeah basically any motion any decision any decision even if it's by consensus right record that's right um so that's all right so so we will move on now to Old business I don't think there's much on the first page not really um well the I had added item D um summarizing other than buildings any more immate needs for Department one thing we should be working on and then item G I still haven't seen anything on that and I was hoping that the two departments could get us that information you should have got all I looked through my emails and I didn't find it at least but if you said it and I if you could resent it I mean I'm sure the consultant's going to be asking for all that again so real quick just under your old business there the old station 13 with winter that's been done oh good they get the water off they actually put antifreeze through the system so that anything left over so they f it with antifreeze all right and the state communication unit the colder in the building the better put don't have to worry about all right and cold is on the menu actually with systems like that don't you have to worry about overheating you it's got a very noisy fan in it all right so anybody have anything to talk about with old business that we feel we should address in more detail it's kind of just those are all placeholders things that we eventually will have to do or often waiting for something else to happen before we get into that everyone's okay with that we'll move on to new business as noted under should be summarizing other more media needs aside from the building one thought that I had was you skipped over last what I the last one oh version of an updated that one yeah I did oh yeah the charge and we were I felt we stood on every item in that charge it's my perspective but I we hope that anyone on this committee if you've got anything to add anything that you think I screwed up on um should all right so um what I was trying to do was come up with a document an update yeah we can update this regularly post it on our web page so that people have the ability to see where we're at right so there is certainly more the so the real the truly emergent need of course was what's been going on with station 13 which is by far not resolved of course it's it's it's on temporarily it's it's on a stay of execution right now but um the the oosha report is the perfect example of the fact that we do have two other buildings at a minimum to be considering M so we have now some new emergent needs with the other uh South bton Station and we have not spent because it's not as emergent we haven't spent time really talking about the Old Farms Road station either right and what are the what are the lackings there because it's not quite as emerging well that's true right but we a lot of the same things that came up in that oer report would probably come up if that happened at the Willington Hill fire station not all of them because like we don't know living right um but I'm listening to the list I'm thinking yes yes yes really so well that's important so we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that we really have three buildings to be thinking about absolutely you know we've dealt with the really big emergency temporarily but that's going to come back around and um we still have to consider these other buildings this ocean information what you know what needs to be done at Willington Hill and um so I don't think it's tonight's thing but I think if we need to keep it on our radar the location stud is going to allow us to talk about a lot of that that really is sort of the meat of this whole committee is to manage these three buildings and exactly that they are aging infr yeah what do we do about that and how what is the best course of action somebody know we do thank you um okay sorry yeah so on that status point I just think we need to remember that we're talking about a minimum of three facilities that we should be keeping in our thought process here absolutely absolutely and yes I think that that's probably where we need to really start to focus on and uh I I personally I guess I've been waiting for this study because that's going to be kind of The Guiding Light for me because I really don't know what the best course of action is and I'm relying on Experts that do this to sort of I looked at some of the older ones where it said you know put a station up on Turn Pike Road and sure do different things so 2025 we'll have new information new data new ideas hopefully or or whatever they will have ideas that then we can launch from I was speaking to just conversationally that I'm reminded of of the old adage that the lawyers I don't ask questions unless you already know the answer would seem that you I don't but you must have an idea based on your experience what is the best and I'm not saying tonight we have to you don't have to answer now but what is if you had an unlimited amount of money what would you as the as the emergency service personel want to see and again don't answer it now because it's a fairly broad subject with a lot of conversation but really if there was an unlimited amount of money I I mean for me if it was aimit amount of money I'd say take Center School and turn that into a center Town Hub with a new fire station and Emergency Services Center and have that be and then have two satellite stations with the right equipment to service the town that's if you had a Gil that's what I imagine because it's Cally located people are used to it it makes sense close to the other Town structures but I don't know if that's real or if that makes sense or not I don't so I think you help I think you helped Shine the Light on the process because every single one of us is going to have some ideas like that exactly right and and they're all all those ideas are going to be fed by different experien like you made a good comment about people are familiar with this being sort of a hub area of town right so that's something that the consultant won't know that's part we all contribute to the conversation what I'm hoping out of this whole thing is that we're going to learn something from the consultant yes that's what I that they're going to they're going to shine light and and each of us who has our preconceived notions will contribute to that but we'll get something from it too um that's great you know kind of like we all went into looking at the proposal yeah for the for the consultant with different experience and luckily we all came out unanimous oning one but we each looked at that probably from slightly different views on that note if I could just launch off of that um when it comes time to so far all I've been doing with the consultant is until it's voted on I haven't not been saying anyone won yet because I'm not guaranteed that that's going to happen so I you know the last one I just said you know we're still deliberating I haven't made a final decision yet but we should know by the end of next week because so F knows that they're potentially yes I I did let them know and said that that you came out on top but it hasn't been fully vetted yet and decid there so and I haven't told the other ones that they're not there because again wait till could started all over again don't want to make promises I can't keep however but as you just said Mike and I think it's CR crucial that we when we have our initial meeting with fish I very much want them to know that we want input early on in their decision making as you just said to tell them this is you know we want to load them up with information that will not be derived from just looking at documents and call logs and you know there is a cultur there are cultures Town cultures and Department cultures that I think they need to have in order to make an informed decision or I I want them to have that they should have the most upfront information and then they've got to add their contributions because exactly as was commented Tyler has been very strong about saying something I agree with this many Consultants will come on board and essentially say what are you looking to get out of this so we can help you justify what you want and I think we're all in agreement that we don't want that we don't want someone to rubber stamp our ideas we want someone to take our information give it value but then to put their professional opinion absolutely into the analysis and the results some light on things may not I really agree with that I have a different Vantage Point perhaps you Andy I know we don't have an unlimited budget I know I know that too and I think it'll be really helpful for me at least to see someone come from the outside looking at this totally objectively what is our geography how much equipment do we have that has to be housed and where does the equipment need to go and and do these three buildings work or don't work maybe we we have this Anonymous uh Invasion by oosha right now maybe we won't need that building Maybe the consultant will say we can close that building or or sell it one of them did already one of the old so let's see what an objective Observer says to us you know we might we might be very surprised we might be completely wrong in all of our preconceptions of this because we live here right so as we do that and as we and since we will I we will ask the consultant to make you know to say we want to be engaged early I think we should try as much as we can to keep our emotions out of it and just give the facts and not say well what I like I wouldn't say well what I'd like to see because I don't want them to be tainted by that just say here are all the facts that we see them and then I don't I I don't have any facts you professionals have the facts and if we keep it to that and then let them culate that data and then spit out something and which then we can say wow that's can't happen or that'll never happen or whatever we don't every individual on this committee has facts in their head backs but they're still swayed by personal sure observation and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that no there isn't but well a good consultant is going to tap into that because they want as much information up front and they're going to understand the difference between like cultural or bias or whatever right so anyway but part of it is that we all since we all have our our our vision of what it could be um I think that's good hold on to those and then let's you know we're going to but without trying to feed a consultant will just uh no we don't want the consultant to reverent a want list nope no right that's great I'm I'm so glad that that is the the feeling of this committee we'll get a lot out of it then so yeah well but anyway other more meeting aside from the buildings and we do have three buildings to consider all very valid points um moving on to B the board of Finance recommended that was going to be the town meetings on the 17th at 7 pm I uh I'm not a this is more of a personal thing but uh sort of as a also Board of Select as a member of the board of Selectmen I would like to give a short presentation at the town meeting kind of what I did for the board of Finance to explain what's going on I did it for the board of Finance or some people do I didn't know all that I I I think that when I've been to the town meetings and you're voting on things like that it's just going to be put up in the well you can see what's on the what what's what you know on the call what's on the call it's three things and they said all in favor I and people what the heck is that all about and so often if you read any of the Facebook U groups and stuff it's like how come we don't know about this in advance I think I want to step forward and say yeah think you do deserve to know and I don't know who's going to be at the meeting it's probably the same 40 people that seem to go and vote on just about everything but so maybe we can uh maybe we can make Tom meetings a little more interactive and a little more uh social or people I mean I really think Tom should be sort of messy there should be people saying hey what's this all about why is this happening does that make sense you might get feedback from very you know people that you hadn't even thought so if it's all right with everyone and I have permission to do it um it wasn't it wasn't very polished but it was accurate and factual I think it would be worth going through that and explaining to people that don't know what's happening with any of the stations what's going on yeah it's entirely possible you're going to get questioned at the town meeting anyway say can we hear from the committee chairman about this question or whatever you may as well just do an update that's very common in the you know the budget meeting and the board of Finance chair usually says something at the budget meeting the superintendent usually says something at the budget meeting okay well as we hit that item the town meeting yeah before I think that the appropriate time is for Andy to you know we read the call we read read the question and then we hand it over to you sure to explain where we're at right and open it up to questions comments and any of you that that are going to be at that meeting any of you that want to answer any of the questions Jump Right In CU I probably wouldn't know a lot of the answers that might be more technical I can probably speak fairly accurately to what Happ this within this committee but beyond that I would probably be lost but I probably wouldn't want to be the one to speak to um it's there so that's that um calls ATT tap so anybody that come will be awesome item c um consider preparing an agenda for a kickoff meeting with our consultant so that goes back to I think it should be all of us that are able to attend um I don't know enough about I don't know if if be Zoom I don't know if it's in person um we can certainly request whatever we want and see what we get I think where are they out of they're out of Arkansas somewhere in Maryland somewhere not here you know where fit should look at it off the top of your headed I don't remember I have proposal right here though Missouri yeah okay okay so hey maybe maybe they'd be willing to come here I think that would be best if we could meet in person but in this day and age Zoom is a fairly online another Choice um we're all used to that way now yeah we're we're kind ofi yeah for a k but again I we can have it what um tonight's new business is considered preparing agenda I think that's wise I'd like you all to consider what do we want we want it to be smooth we want it to be to be robust but we want the content to be enough that makes sense so we need to have some sort of a plan that's how we're going to talk to what do we want to say I don't even know I really I don't know what to say about this so um yeah the other thing that U Andy and I had discussed is B is going to want a contract oh yeah um there's going to be payment terms there's going to be um deliverables uh there's going to be information that they need um I would expect those things to be in the contract I I would like at least some representation from this committee reviewing that contract not from a legal perspective as much as a scope perspective in both directions yeah I'm sure as we as soon as we notify them that it's been approved by the town's people they they're going to start a conversation about the contract right away and and that'll be you know probably should happen with the first selectman's office um okay initially to get get their draft or whatever um because they're going to want to review it for whatever legal and business reasons and we can review it for the scope all this same time could we do that on the same call could we do you think we could well I think we need to see the document I think as soon as it's approved by the town meeting the next day you call them and you say it's been approved by the town meeting okay what's the next step they're going to say okay we're going to send you a draft contract you're gon it's it's better working with these contracts to have them and to read them over absolutely find to com and then go back and forth okay so just real quick um let's say five things if I call if if if on the to meeting it's approved B is our our our our choice I'm going to call them and talk to them what five things should I be right up front what five soon are they going to get you the contract contract do they write the contract or just Town WR the contract they'll usually provide the they'll provide the contract and then the town will probably dissect it and say we don't we don't agree to how this is written or whatever it'll be basically their contract and then our attorney would look at it I assume we probably bounce that off the attorney yeah the first selectman will decide if he thinks it's clear enough he may not but he'll probably send to the town the contract would be with the town and the first selectman would be the one to be the executive of that it's okay so I would say next steps contract what other thing should I on that very first call yeah schedule because and they'll their schedule will be based on upon signature of the contract so once this wheeling and dealing is done and they get the contract back signed they'll probably have a typical we can do our kickoff meeting within one week of contract signature or whatever they probably have a timeline idea already okay so as long as I just I just want to have some five you know five things so I don't lose track and then the conversation will take its own flow but as long as I hit those steps contract schedule scope and then everything of course everything will be in writing what we actually agree on but at least the initial call have some structure and make it better so okay um and you're okay with me making that call you mind all right if Ralph is there I always like to have somebody because I don't always hear things and thinking of something and they're saying something and I miss a point so if you're everyone all right with that thank you that be I you know it's like the buddy system I like to have I hear I hear it is not as good as it used to be and I do miss things mind yeah Jo joys of of Aging I'm thinking various comedy skits I've SE yeah so along that along items so I mean I assume that is going to vote for it they already don't know why they BL at this but no guarantees but so that's never know at our at our next meeting then item C if we could make that a priority that we really come up with a good agenda so we have a kickoff meeting when they there will be one so and who do we want to invite everybody any others in do we want our first select there do we have any other honored guests that should be that should we have somebody from the board of Finance president you have somebody from theard is so we're good there one one it's not us Andy I would say that um if Peter's available we would want first since he's going to he's the one who signed the contract anyway and the other thing is he is going to be the gateway to a couple of the organizations that are not in this meeting group that need to be part of them like he he technically is the person who's going to tell the fire Marsh you have to participate or he is going to represent any like police or Public Safety side of it he's going to connect that so those things that are not already in this committee he's our access to those there you go anyone else that should be I don't think for the kickoff yeah okay I think the kickoff is really mostly us and Peter of course yeah scope and legal aspect well scope finally make sure we're on the same and and talking with him he he has you know nothing but respect for everybody on this committee and he appreciates what's happening and he does feel that that we're we're doing a good service for the town and taking a lot of of his blank and that he doesn't have to I'm not saying he shouldn't be better just saying he uh he's not Point man right and and he he likes what's happening here so it's uh and so does Matt CLK the other Selectmen are pretty happy um okay item D sorry one I'm just looking at fish's proposal I see included references in this past job okay I'm wondering if that could help us you know oh sure like calling Unfortunately they all seem to be big cities aren't they doing somebody working in t they're working in t right you know anybody there that could that would be willing to to know like what worked in people's contracts and what didn't you know I think the scope of Tom's project does nothing to do with the buildings per se it's more of paid hours and volunteers and the future volunteers and that sort of thing so well it's certainly a fire related study they're doing I'm not so sure that app too much to do you talk to them like do you have I mean I just saw like what is their culture that easy deal withy to talk to I think Tyler talked to the chief over there probably be the best to go through I don't think you heard anything bad yeah they were currently working on whatever studying over there to Pete's point maybe we call somebody who's not tied to this area at all not tied to people we know truly a truly completely well isolated unbiased person and in one of those references we call them up and say hey what do you want to tell us well let me in the I I want to call like one of us from with their Committee in that town not the fire chief who's going to have his own agenda and so forth but like the Andy of whoever hired them in burls and Texas yeah that's fine yeah how do they go did they did they miss anything in the contract get change order for or I just wrote down let me in the initial call let me say do you mind if we contact some of your references included let me just say that we will be contacting some of your references rather than asking permission I'll just say we actually you know what maybe you should do it before the town meeting then you can say at the town meeting by the way we've contacted the references and we got good feedback that helps the town's people feel more confident about voting for it I it'll help the board of Finance even more they were very apprehensive about yeah I mean that way we've done our due diligence in advance of the vote no I like it all right no my little Google search here says Mansfield used pit and Associates back in 2020 U for an efficiency study of fireing EMS services and uh least the headline in the think which was in the chronicle originally was in Fire House Magazine you know anybody over there I could call just I mean I might as well start well they changed Che so I don't know who was driving it they did they did recommend apparently that manille should have two fire stations and not three um wow which is I'm not even sure they're going down that road but uh well no I mean right right nobody has to follow well there has there actually has been a lot of discussion about facilities in Mansfield they took that study and they did a townwide facility study also of all the facilities so that they could coordinate if there's going to be major Capital changes like in these examples before of taking Center School and turning it into a town and Public Safety Hub or whatever those kind of conversations they took that information and they uh did a townwide study another consultant did a townwide study of all the facilities pretty easy to call somebody local first and then just if something else hey they were great to work with we ultimately didn't follow their advice but everything they said was there is discussion still in Mansfield about what they're going to do with their fire stations they are aging okay well the the biggest problem they have is a station on Route 32 they don't even own the parking lot parking lot belongs to the church oh yes and which has been sold twice in the last years so there was some type of moving down by the an event school but uh you know where that's abandoned now but it's a long ways away there was also discussion about moving Slightly North getting a piece of property from the state like along the old training school property along 32 to replace that station and the station over in Four Corners which they have just done some renovation work on because they're going to staff it they got Grant work to got a new fire truck based on Staffing that station so right now they're not going in that direction but there's still discussion that if this problem with the parking lot and everything rears its ugly head that they might be able to do all of those services from a location closer to the intersection to 44 and 32 and then they would be two fire stations of three so apparently that's another customer Pi associ yeah well good all right so I will uh I will reach out to some of their references prior to the town meeting and see what I can find out that that sounds like fun he comes to our area go some free visits yeah let's just you know I don't want to drag this out too much but funny about that station that uh the one on 195 across from holiday mall that I thought that that was pretty much defun but then you put in 200 housing units right across the street all of a sudden now that makes that a lot more reasonable to have it and then um Mike D had said they have plans to put more apartments behind that and behind I mean that that four corners is going to be quite a hub of businesses and housing um you start from the intersection and head towards Harford on 44 I looked at some of the proposed plants that are still in process one got I think one or two Got U denied by an that doesn't mean that's the end of itbe come back again but they were pretty big and they're all behind what you see on 74 144 you know like the The King Family they just put that property up there that's going to be for sale that's 175 acres and I think John Jared spars oh yeah I had heard that that's going to be on the market and you get the 86 Acres behind me yeah and I so I wonder if there's going to be a little cascading there as all these families age is an awful lot of absentee landlords on some of these larger pieces of property there remain on something I I don't think we're going to see the development rush into willing to I don't think so either but it's going to be it might be something that as we look at a 50-year plan probably something to consider I see the 86 Acres of at 32 there behind me that's more attractive than do something with Kings yeah of course but I'm just saying these older Property Owners aging property owners are not going to want to keep it okay um grant for emergency services um this was the grant that this is the grant uh that it's Mike deato wrote it um the grante te is actually Paka primary Bo of contact how willing course BR te now we are named on it um as a uh what do they call us a supporting uh a supporting group or something so yeah um supporting Ander participating organizations willing fire department Willington Emergency Services building committee so there's a ing to Mr deato there's a good chance they're going to be getting this grant for somewhere under $400,000 somewhere around $400,000 original Grant was for 3. million for a new fire station um can I correct you on that please do so okay the cost of what was covered by the grant was 3.25 million right what was requested I think was 487 th000 or something7 so it's we're not getting million 487 if we get it assuming this this goes through um is specifically for station 13 well now emergency operation EOC yeah well it gets a little weird because right Willington firehouse and EOC renovation remediation the title in the name of proposal it does not specify a station but then in the description of work and the description of of of the problem it's all about station 13 yeah um they're talking to Mike de he said we really should have a plan on how this money is to be spent I talked to Peter about it he thinks it is the purview of this committee to provide the guidance for that expenditure how soon how soon it does something happen I talked to like two or three weeks ago he said every his indications from the federal this a Federal grant this is from the Blumenthal of Chris Murphy line uh um he said it's passed through all the Committees and now it's just waiting for the final approval of the of Congress now that doesn't mean that it's going to be a done deal but it doesn't seem there too many impediments to getting it and uh Peter said you have a year to comply I don't know where he got that information I don't know if so the have they they haven't they haven't gone out for Christmas break yet right in Washington they're close though it it's their Christmas break unlike the rest of us starts like three weeks before Christmas and then what three weeks after three weeks after yeah but hopefully it'll the new administration because that always causes quite a bit of turmoil they're a little busy with a lot of lot other stuff um but the if I can just read this aloud it says uh five sentence description of how you use the federal funds if awarded These funds will be used to renovate and expand the town's fire station not World beyond the significant deficiencies within the current building related to code requirements necessary training and sleeping spaces and Emergency Operations this aging facility was recently found to contain mold based on the way the current building was constructed it was determined that complete renovation including an expansion was the most appropriate way to make the building safe address code requirements in addition to the operational needs of the department though so in all likelihood would probably expect to get notice in January if it was awarded right which would give us maybe January or February would be the availability time and then it would be February to February unless does it say what year the funds are for what year not that I seen in this document because that would be the other question if they're fiscal 206 funds we wouldn't have access until Janu July one okay um I expect there to be more parameters and guidance within the actual Ward this is the request and I this is all mik had so far the value the total uh 4875 and there's I mean there's another paragraph problem issue statement um I can send this out to everybody if you're interested well I think really I mean probably we have enough time to get our consultant work done I think so I think it could and that would be a great document and that report would be great justification to help support right we may have to answer those questions sooner yes yeah we might have our consult work done by that time and the consult work would help support the the directing those funds so I'd like to keep this on the agenda so we don't lose track of it because it's something that again it's it's going to be sort of an imperative need that almost eclipses some of it be on our quick move list yeah it'll be on our quick move list but I I think it I I think it works well in concert with what we're doing I don't think it's I don't think it's a distraction I don't think it's adverse but I think it's something we need to roll in you're going to Rolling in excuse us didn't don't stop on our account so that's good so I just you know I wanted to get that out news good yeah it is great news actually great news I mean and and really what I what I I don't it just says fire station so um right we know we had a problem yeah right so but then since it doesn't it doesn't specifically say it but then the description is basically one one of the three buildings well the good the good news too is that unless the study says you got to get rid of that place there's no reason to be there which is probably not likely that they're going to be that strong an answer I would think you're right whether the study says keep it just as a garage for apparatus or that should be the central fire station whatever the study says right probably the study will say there's value to being at that location in which case half a million dollar could get used in any of those manners exactly whether it goes towards a new building whether it goes towards remediating and clean and making that into a goodar whatever you know um it's not like we're on a path that we can't figure out how to use that money correct correct I just you but mean the using the money might come sooner than again I don't Mike the way Mike explained it to me it isn't necessarily that you have to spend the money you have to commit you have to you have to have a real can't say oh well screww the fire depart we're putting in a public swimming pool you know we're doing something completely different with that that you can't do it has to be the spirit of for that you have to get your Senator to sneak an amendment in somewhere but this may also help if station 13 remains viable after the study right getting that right of way narrowed for Route 32 and and adding to that land to enhance any building that goes there with respect to zoning re you know there's a lot of things could be used for but it could put some leverage on the state to hurry up and let that property make yeah make that work I suspect one of the deliverables of that Grant is you have to come up with an emergency Operation Center that very well could be that's the intent of that whole grant program is the EOC aspect of things which is on Peter's board as a thing that is still has has to be I guess has to be done right formalized I mean it isn't just saying well that had been that that station had been used as the EOC and it's not functional right now okay you don't even have that was the you don't even have the EOC right now so that was considered the EOC town okay now it's now it's not there so we have to have one that makes sense all right well we will then just just keep as as we um as we move forward I mean again Mike sounded pretty positive that it's going to go through so let's if it if we go under the assumption that it is it's basically just a sum of money so we could probably I'm just brainstorming here that maybe as we move forward we could say hey this would be a good use and we're and we're going to get guidance of that money right always tell you parameters of what you're using the money for that's a good point a lot of parameters I don't want to get ahead of too ahead of my thoughts but just to say hey look because if you have the money and you're not ask asking the town for it then that's good so if there are some things that become in our face that we want to deal with we can say Hey you know we actually have some money that could solve that problem quickly and it might be the most appropriate thing okay moving on to item the last item e uh discussion regarding engaging an owner an OPM an owner's project manager to assist with meeting our charge specially begins their task so again Clerk of the works OPM somebody that's outside the committee that is uh if indeed action starts to take place of makes remember our experience with with SBC M um and I'm thinking that that's as as Fitch starts to coales with the their study uh we need to get going on all right what are these facilities going to look like what are they going to cost um and that's why I wanted to add this item to the agenda to start discussion should we put out an RFP for an OPM for this once F kind of points Us in the direction that we should be going yeah I think I think we should be collecting ideas for that I think we don't know enough yet what the scope of the potential projects would be and OPM can help you with that but if you don't like we know so little right now that I don't know how we would be able to word the scope of work correct well enough for the OPM right now because it's too nebulous but I think we should be pulling the thoughts together that's exactly what I was trying to do is at least get people thinking about that because it's beyond what any one of us I think is going to be able to do and you can't really do that by committee at all and you're going to you're probably have a different you'll have a different level of OPM engagement if you're going to do some renovations to each of the three buildings versus if you're going to build some Public Safety headquarters right you know so we're yeah I think we should be thinking about it and have it on our short list when we get start yeah it's premature right now but for sure but I think it's a good idea oh are we are those people in the room there okay good a well they're actually the computers in the room they're really somewhere else on Zoom I do need that c I lose my way these people are in the room I lose my way frequently okay um that gets us through a new business are there any other thoughts or things that we should be within that that we need to discuss I didn't get really any correspondents except a couple of Consultants just responded to my email and I said hey we're still working on things and they said okay thanks we're eager to work with you that kind of um and I did tell them where we're at I was pretty out front you know going through these going through VAR I didn't go get guys going through various committees eventually do a town meeting we don't know yet know um I don't think anybody I didn't get any I think I got any other correspond except uh this application and that's what all Mike has so far far um and I guess we're back to presy speak I8 is there anybody in the room or online that wishes to speak um chair recognizes James Marshall of Fisher Hill Road hi thanks for the answer um yeah hi guys um I just wanted to say I'm glad you guys have our starting discussion on the OPM front um I I would say it's not too premature and quite frankly the earlier you guys get him on board in advance of the your um station location study they'll be able to hit the ground running they'll be able to inform some of the early decision-making right after that it is definitely not too early um especially when you're looking at two months three months before you guys even get an RFP out um so I just encourage you to move that along as quickly as you can um you don't need to define a scope you know what the charge of the committee is it's just you're hiring an OPM to assistant the charge of the committee to determine what the next steps are for the stations [Music] um yeah so anyway I'm just glad to see you guys are moving that way and um I want to ask a question though James just while you're on that and just help me understand um if since there is no project yet there may not I mean the the consultant might propose something that simply cannot be done how does the OPM that we're paying help us before it's we don't so you know project manager if there's no project how does getting one early and and incurring that expense help us that's yeah no and and I I get it you don't necessarily the OPM is on board to help you develop a project um and honestly they're more effective usually when it's when they're engaged um in the early stages yes they can help you enact the project but they are really a useful tool from a planning perspective um early on I mean I work with opms all the time during feasibility studies onward um just helping to vet and align project Scopes and project parameters or what the project may be with with all of the real world ramifications that you guys are given you know budget grant opportunities um helping coordinate station location study and and honestly they're good at helping you just get an overall level of efficiency um because they'll be able to create work plans for you which is you know one of those things that's um helpful all along the way so it's just I I I think conversations with some I know we have the town has relationships with with opms from the school building um committee and others um it it's worth considering what opportunities are out there to get somebody on board as as as an adviser um they're not helping you enact the project at the early stage it's just advising you on how to get to a project that is realizable for the town all right thanks I didn't I don't know anything about OPM so that was helpful thank you they can take on All Ships and forms but so thanks guys yeah thanks James is it logical to assume that if we want an OPM that we have to go back to finance to fund this position I prob yes upstairs come on Hi how are you just introduce for the record Melissa thank you for your comments they all went upstairs okay thank you okay so uh that might influence our timing of when we hired this person we would have an approved project by the town I would think before we hred up well I yeah I don't know project is funded by the in the town people why would be hire up that's so we should be careful not to get into too much debate and present to speak sorry no I wasn't I wasn't I just wanted information this is this is something you should be presenting when you talk to the town meeting that we are considering when to bring on an OPM so that people start thinking about that right I like that all right where was that where was I making fish is the beginning of this process not the middle or the end there's going to be many steps in between and some of them will probably involve money yes all the good ones J it's a good point and uh I I don't again that's that those are very valid reasons for why you w you haven't got the money yet for higher fish no that's exactly might be a little premature tonight does make sense does hopefully all right um anyone else wishes to speak u in the room or online I don't see any hands raised um is there anything else we need to discuss okay we have town meeting on the 17 that will give us the green light or not um for fit do should we consider a special meeting between now and the end of the year to this committee to get things rolling P well I would imagine this is our last meeting of the year right yeah and there's not with the holidays we're not going to have a lot of a lot of us aren't going to have much more availability in the next three weeks anyway understand but I out there I think it's going to start with Andy's phone call to them right assuming the town meeting passes it he's going to get on the phone with them and say okay here we are what's next if they say We'll a contract to you tomorrow we want to have a meeting the first week of January we want to get rolling then we better then Andy's going to call a special meeting probably right I think that well our first meeting in January is on the 9th anyway right he may have to call one on the third or whatever yeah yeah all right so let's let's we'll launch off of whatever however it responds they may say that they may say that you know they can't get us a contract to even start reviewing until the first week of January they got holidays holidays sure personel what I like that that works for me the other thing was um I did a draft meeting schedule for the record actually be have to make a motion we should have uh all right oh we probably should have done that under didn't think of that well I move we add item app to new business which is meeting schedule for 2025 we have a second second motions been made uh by uh Mike m to add the uh the the 2025 schedule as item F that was seconded byow any discussion the interesting thing about it is hang any discussion on the meeting SCH on the on the mo so are these all Thursday nights yes well we're going to talk about the schedule in the second we're just adding the agenda right now yeah all in favor of adding it to the agenda it's un very good okay it's been added to the agenda now let's talk about the item out so now let's talk about the uh schedule for 2025 I was surprised there were only two Thursday conflicts with holidays Thanksgiving and Christmas hor I mean I I got some little trivia things down the right side there but very nice thought you might Beed by that we are I didn't know there was yeah that's that's going to be any any place you have a bunch of Scandinavians what other Town committees meet on Thursdays Board of Finance we alternate with and apparently we will we'll crash into some we'll crash into that on budget season we will crash into that on budget season because like in February and March Board of Finance is meeting every single Thursday night okay so we may just have to have alternative location and an alternative Zoom lanking not that that would ever go wrong and an alternative agenda yeah speaking of that uh in the foia meeting uh they said what is it Zoom links have to be put out 40 48 hours that was news to yeah so I was telling Ral about that they they can ALS you could do them months said you can do them six months out if you know it's going to be on those dat you post the zoom link it's empty doesn't go anywhere but the link is valid unless you change it well the meeting ID and the passcode is consistent the link is what changes from month to month yeah oh okay all right and that's how it's explained to me yes the link but you could still go to zoom and just enter by meeting number and password without the link and you can get there manually ah so and that satisfies but if you just put out the agenda a day sooner than you have to then it's to me it's done and I would rather work it that way it's a little tougher for the board of selecting because Friday doesn't count for that so there Wednesday I move we accept the calendar as presented second all right a motion has been made by m to accept the um calendar as presented yes the uh the 2025 calendar and it was seconded by Ric um any discussion the only thing I have to say is I'm going to have to miss all of February and March there's no way I can oh right because of your with with the that that makes perfect sense okay um we will note that you're excused doing very important work we'll do everything we we get away with we money the money's gone so all right um there no further discussion all in favor it's unanimous very good thank you for adding that to the agenda okay um Mr chairman on your notes of things you need to do or that you're GNA delegate to Ralph um this has to be sent to the town clerk before the end of this calendar year okay I will no I do that very good I figur you know out there it's a little bit different than planning I move we adjourn second second it to ajour all in favor by the way feedback on this status stop recording I've read partway through it I don't expect it tonight but Mike can you stop us or I say something inappropriate