LIVERMORE FALLS — Residents at a special town meeting Tuesday night approved spending up to $1.5 million to demolish the current fire station and build a new one on the same site on Park Street.
Residents voted 39-32 in favor of Article 2 on the warrant, allowing the town to build a new station. At the meeting, voters considered several different articles on the warrant and made amendments to articles.
Selectman Ron Chadwick made a motion to go out of order and address Article 4 first, which asked residents to approve up to $1.1 million to make repairs to the current fire station. He said the town on Tuesday received a quote from Lincoln/Haney Engineering Associates Inc. of Brunswick for $456,661 to provide repairs to structural deficiencies in the fire station.
Chadwick explained that the quoted price from Lincoln/Haney would fix the roof leaks, allow the back wall to be reinforced, replace the boiler, fix the floor and provide for new insulation. It would allow the Fire Department to get back in the building as quickly as possible, he said.
After voters approved taking the article out of order by a vote of 37-33, resident Tim Fournier made a motion to cap it at $500,000.
Architect George Parker, who provided drawings of the building, said that the amount would not allow for ADA-compliant bathrooms or an exhaust ventilation system for trucks to be installed.
Another resident made a motion to amend the article to $550,000 to allow for the ADA-compliant bathrooms, which voters turned down.
Fire Chief Edward Hastings IV warned that even at $1.1 million, “It doesn’t make the front two bays big enough to park modern fire equipment. It is something that works. It is not necessarily the most ideal thing.”
After another amendment, voters turned down Article 4 by a vote of 20-41.
“We support building a brand new fire station,” Hastings said. “I stand beside the firefighters 110 percent.”
Resident Carol Barker asked how much the town’s taxes would increase with the new fire station proposal. Flagg said that if the town paid off the $1.5 million over a 30-year loan at 4 percent interest, the tax rate would increase $1.35 per $1,000 of valuation on a home.
Residents also turned down Article 3, which would have allowed the town to borrow up to $1,350,000 to remodel and expand the current fire station.
bmatulaitis@sunmediagroup.net
“We support building a brand new fire station. I stand beside the firefighters 110 percent.” — Edward Hastings IV, fire chief, Livermore Falls
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