Dan Downer of Hill Engineering, right, and Prudential Committee Chairman John Notsley participate in Wednesday's meeting.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Fire District on Wednesday decided to move forward with two projects to repair its outdated facility.

 

The three-person Prudential Committee, which oversees the district, voted unanimously to repair the front wall and driveway of the Water Street station.

 

The district two years ago was stymied when it twice attempted to buy a Main Street parcel to build a new fire station. Left with a facility that the department believes is too small and inadequate to meet its needs, the Prudential Committee finds itself in the position of having to put more money into the station.

 

Dan Downer, a project manager with Dalton's Hill Engineering, met with the committee to explain the next steps to execute his firm's plan to shore up the building and recrown the parking lot to make it possible to bring trucks in and out of the station.

 

Downer cited a cost of $3,500 to put each of the projects through the commonwealth's competitive bidding process and $3,000 for Hill's efforts to shepherd the driveway project through the town's Conservation Commission.

 

Downer said he asked the Conservation Committee for a waiver from a formal hearing, but given the station's proximity to the Green River, the commission required the filing of a Request for Determination of Applicability.

 

"They could have made us file a Notice of Intent," Downer said, referring to a more involved — and costly — regulatory step.

 

In all, the committee approved up to $9,500 in expenses just to get regulatory approval and bids to do the actual work, but Downer held out hope that some of those costs could be avoided.

 

"We could appeal to the attorney general to ask them to approve an emergency repair [to the wall] and get three bids from locals instead of going through the Central Register," he said. "There is that avenue.

 

"We've experienced movements in the lintels and supports. ... With the frost this year, we experienced even more movement."

 

The permission to make the project an emergency repair not only would save money (not the full $3,500) but also time.

 

"I think it's worth an ask," Fire District Clerk/Treasurer Corydon Thurston told the committee. "If they say no, we're no worse off. If they say yes, we'll save a little money.

 

"They have a municipal division at the attorney general's office. I think they'll be somewhat sympathetic."

 

In other business on Wednesday, the Prudential Committee voted to close out the book on fiscal 2015 by transferring $3,460.15 from the district's reserve fund.

 

The overage was created when a $5,100 equipment invoice was lost and not discovered until July, after the close of the fiscal year, Thurston told the committee.

 

Instead of finishing slightly in the black, the department ended up going over its $479,827 operating budget by .7 percent.

 

On the plus side, the district's revenue for FY15 was 10.9 percent more than projected. Most of that came from nearly $54,000 more tax revenue than anticipated when the budget was passed in May 2014.