Date: Fri 12-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-firehouse-office-space

Full Text:

ED INK: The Town's Ailing Facilities

One of the harsher truths of public life is that even the most meticulous

long-range planning can be tripped up by a tangle of snags and snafus lurking

around every corner. In the past week, just as the town was finally getting

down to seriously addressing its growing need for safe, habitable office

space, local building officials declared the Newtown Hook and Ladder Firehouse

unfit to house fire trucks.

The fire trucks were rolled out of their shelter and into the elements last

Friday night, where they have been guarded round-the-clock against vandalism

ever since. The floors supporting the trucks have developed structural flaws

over the years that only turned up last week during a routine inspection

associated with the building's leaking roof.

The volunteer Newtown Hook & Ladder Company has shouldered most of its own

capital costs over the years through fund-raising campaigns. In fact, it

recently purchased a small pumper truck without any contribution from the

town's coffers. Hook & Ladder's current dilemma at the firehouse, located

directly behind Edmond Town Hall, may ultimately require a rather expensive

solution -- a new firehouse. Hook & Ladder's volunteer service to Newtown is

so essential that its need for a safe and adequate facility is not just a

company problem -- it's a town problem.

The structural problems at the firehouse bring new urgency to the town's study

of its own need for office space. One of the more promising alternatives for

the town is the conversion of the Hook & Ladder firehouse into office space.

The building's proximity to the existing offices on Main Street and its

potential for expansion make it a good candidate. Neither the town nor the

fire company, however, should spend significant sums of money on permanently

reinforcing floors to support fire trucks if all they really need to support

are filing cabinets.

What the town most needs to buy at this point is time. If temporary supports

will allow the fire trucks to be rolled back into the firehouse, fine. Perhaps

temporary shelter for the trucks could also be arranged in the former

Fairfield Hills firehouse. But eventual disposition of the Hook & Ladder

firehouse along with that of Town Hall South will have to be considered

together along with other alternatives for new or renovated facilities around

town.

Just this week, the Board of Selectmen selected an architectural firm to spend

the next few months studying the town's "space needs." Once the architects

file their report, both the selectmen and the Legislative Council need to show

resolve and provide the leadership to follow through with some action.

The need is clear, yet the solutions, particularly if they are expensive, will

be a hard sell, especially now that the Board of Education is advocating the

construction of a new school on town land at Fairfield Hills at a cost of $22

million. Additional capital expenses at this time will put pressure on the tax

rate and risk upsetting taxpayers. But to let the town's infrastructure

degrade to extent that it has at Town Hall South, where further renovations

now seem like a waste of money, is irresponsible and even more costly in the

long run.