Fire Chief Seeks Stimulus Bucks for New HQ

Fire Chief Jack Ahern wants to apply for an $8 million federal stimulus grant to build a new fire headquarters on North Main Street, but he needs $481, 000 from the town to get the project ready for bid.

Sounds simple, especially since a new fire headquarters is a town priority. The current building is in deplorable condition.

But the chief faces a dilemma that only the Board of Finance can solve. Before he can apply for the $481,000 and complete the application that is due in August, the board must first reverse its policy curtailing the construction of major capital projects.

The Board of Finance has deferred major construction projects until it knows whether the town will have to pay a multimillion judgment in the Tabor eminent domain case.

Oral arguments in the Tabor case will take place before the Connecticut Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 26, at 10 a.m. A decision is not likely for months. Depending upon the ruling, the long-running case, which began in 2002, may not be resolved until 2011, the Board of Finance has said.

But by then the town will have lost its ability to compete for this grant.

First Selectman Unk DaRos told the Board of Finance late last month that the town would be crazy not to apply for the grant to construct a 30,000-square foot building. The board seemed intrigued with the prospect of possibly obtaining major federal funding to replace the aging, 46-year-old building.

DaRos told the board that ​“there is about $210 million out there for the State of Connecticut to build 24 or 25 firehouses across the state, which probably puts us in a pretty good position to build a station.”

A new fire headquarters is tied at the hip to the Department of Public Works, whose building is located next door to the Fire Department’s building. (See current configuration below.) Its site would be used for the new Fire Department headquarters.

DaRos suggested that public works be moved temporarily to an available warehouse. Then, if the town wins the $8 million grant, the new firehouse would be constructed on the public works site and the current fire department building would continue to operate while the new one was being built.

“I did call various warehouses,” DaRos told the Board of Finance. ​“It is simple to move public works. And there are garages available for them as well. I have checked that out. The clean-up would be minimal because we own the property,” he added.

DaRos announced last February that public works eventually will have a new home at the Tabor site, which the town owns.

Originally the combined cost of both projects was about $17 million, but that estimate came before the federal stimulus grants were announced. The town’s project must be ​“shovel ready” to apply.

Board member Charles Shelton asked: ​“If we grant the funds for site design and construction documents and bids are due Aug. 17, will you have enough time to do it?”

“Yes,” Ahern replied. He told the board the town has a good chance of winning a grant. ​“It is our feeling that the more shovel ready we are, the better chance we have.” He added that ​“we do have a design and it is very beautiful.” The Representative Town Meeting approved funds for the architecture drawings in March, 2008.

Joseph Mooney, the chair of the Board of Finance, seemed intrigued. ​“We should probably schedule a special meeting,” he said. The meeting will be held this Wednesday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Canoe Brook Senior Center.

If the town gets to apply and wins a grant, then the Department of Public Works, whose building is adjacent to fire headquarters, would be moved to a rented space and the new fire headquarters would be erected on the public works site.

Under the federal formula, the stimulus funding would be used to pay 80 percent of the funds while the town would pay the remaining 20 percent.

Ahern said he learned about the competitive grants in a letter from Governor M. Jodi Rell. She said that fire station construction funding will be available through a U.S. Homeland Security Department grant. The key is that the project must be shovel ready — as the Amtrak Bridge project was. The town has received a $75 million grant for the Amtrak project.

While DaRos was enthusiastic, Republican Third Selectman John Opie was cautious. Opie, who is expected to run against DaRos in the upcoming first selectman’s race, was not sure this was the way to go. He said he prefers a regional approach that would ultimately keep both the Fire Department and public works buildings on the same site.

“If we agree to accept the grant money, we are essentially committing to spend the balance of perhaps $13 million at the same time,” he said. ​“As tempting as the grant may be, I think we should be looking more at the ​‘big picture’ and the opportunities that may be available to us.”

For Opie the big picture centers on a mini-regional plan that would explore a new firehouse at the common intersections of Branford, North Branford and Guilford.

“I always like to see at least some effort put forward towards exploring cooperation with our neighboring towns on big ticket equipment and facilities,” he said.

“As time goes on, a fire station at the common intersection of our three towns may well be necessary. If it could be a joint venture with shared costs, that sounds like a reasonable solution to me. Perhaps it could house a pair of aerial trucks [one new, one back up] plus other equipment we share as a region.

“If, at the same time, the extra space that would afford could reduce the need for a much expanded ​‘Main Fire House,’ perhaps ours could continue sharing the present site with Public Works, saving Branford the additional expense of a new site for them.

“I’m sure the unions will hate the idea as will the municipal department heads who will say, ​‘It can’t be done,’ but such is the challenge of management …”