Will RTM Catch ​“Hail Mary Pass”?

On the brink of success, a move to replace Branford’s decrepit fire headquarters suffered a setback when two Democratic town legislators wavered under pressure from angry Republicans.

In a joint meeting on Thursday evening, Branford’s Public Services and the Ways and Means committees voted 7 – 4 to not approve a plan to replace the town’s dilapidated fire department headquarters. Two Democrats crossed party lines to vote with the five Republicans present against the plan.

Republicans objected to the fact that the proposal includes the demolition of the Department of Public Works headquarters, forcing the DPW to rent space until a new permanent location is found.

The matter now moves to the full Representative Town Meeting (RTM), which must approve the project. It’s slated to vote at a special meeting Sept. 15. There are 21 Democrats and 9 Republicans on the RTM. The moderator votes only to break a tie. If the majority of Democrats agree to vote for the desperately needed firehouse building, a building that provides all ambulance service to the town, they will easily overturn their committee’s recommendations.

The majority of members of the Public Services and the Ways and Means committees said that of course the town should replace the aging structure, but then they voted against moving ahead with the project because they said they don’t want to pay rent to house the public works building.

The effect of the Republican strategy — to hold a new fire headquarters hostage to an interim public works rental — defied logic and need, town officials said of the decades-long effort to build a new fire headquarters. .

Fire Chief Jack Ahern described his reaction to the Eagle: ​“We are in overtime of a football game here and I am throwing a Hail Mary pass and I honestly don’t know if it is going to be caught or not,” he said. He said he was dismayed by the vote, especially since ​“the bi-partisan Board of Finance had unanimously voted for it. This should be a mantra,” he observed.

First Selectman Anthony ​“Unk” DaRos said he, too, was surprised by the vote. ​“I think they are playing Russian roulette with public safety,” he told the Eagle in an interview. ​“The need for a new fire house is well-documented. To second guess it at the 11th hour seems to be the M.O. around here,” he said of the minority party’s approach to business these days. 

Since the public works building and the existing fire department headquarters are currently on the same site, public works must be moved to make way for the new, bigger building.

Some Republicans asked at Thursday’s meeting for a new public works building. Yet last year these two committees refused to approve design plans for a new public works facility. 

Town engineer Janice Plaziak said there are no designs for a public works building because the joint committees voted it down in 2009, and the RTM postponed any decision on it. ​“Because you didn’t fund public works (drawings), we can’t move ahead,” Plaziak said as she recalled last year’s voting process. ​“I said at the time, you’re making your future decisions much more complicated.”

To the arguments that the project was too expensive and the town couldn’t afford it, Finance Director Jim Finch spoke at length about the town’s sound fiscal standing. Just last week the town again received the highest triple A bonding rating from Standard and Poor’s.

The 7 – 4 vote came after four hours of debate and disagreement at a joint meeting of the committees Thursday night. A total of 12 RTM members sit on the committees. Joe Selvaggio, a Democratic member of Ways and Means, was absent. The Republican RTM committee members who voted against the new fire headquarters are: Peter Black, Dennis Flanagan, Michael Nardella, Marc Riccio and Frank Twohill.

The Democrats would have won 6 to 5 if two of their members had not defected to the Republican side. They were Lisa Avitable and Kevin O’Donnell.

Avitable asked if it would be possible to build a smaller fire headquarters. O’Donnell did not say at the meeting why he voted against the plan.

Chief Ahern told the Eagle today that he was surprised by O’Donnell’s vote because O’Donnell told him before the meeting he was in favor of the project. 

In recent months, the Republicans, with an exception of one or two members, have moved as one on virtually every project DaRos has supported, from the new fire headquarters, to renting space for the public works building, to a proposed new senior center to open space protection in the area of Johnson’s Farm in the Queach. 

The $12.5 million fire house project has already received the unanimous blessing of the Board of Finance and the Board of Fire Commissioners. Preliminary phases of the project were approved by those boards and by the Board of Selectmen and the Representative Town Meeting. Architectural plans have been completed and the project is ready to be put out for bid.

DaRos said it would not be possible to begin building public works now. ​“You left no option. If you had designed public works, we could move ahead now,” DaRos said. ​“We were forced to have to move this building (to a lease facility) the way we are now.”

RTM Committees typically deliberate on such proposals and then make a recommendation to the full membership. If attitudes at Thursday’s meeting are an indication of what’s ahead, the RTM session promises to be fiery. But it is also a test of the Democrat’s ability to gather their forces and, like the Republicans, act as a group. 

“We’re not against the fire house,” said Marc Riccio, a Republican member of the Public Services Committee as he questioned the timing of the project. ​“It seems to be a rush to judgment.” Riccio, often outspoken, has served on the RTM for about nine months. 

“It’s certainly not a rush,” responded a frustrated Chief Ahern, adding that the project has been discussed for more than 20 years. 

“People expect a fire house … and we’re not providing that,” Ahern said. ​“I know you’re saying we need a new fire house but all you’re looking to do is delay it … and that’s been done since 1989. We simply can’t wait anymore.”

“All of us respect that we truly have an awesome responsibility here … to carefully weigh the priorities that his town has,” said Sandra Reiners, a Democrat who chairs Ways and Means. ​“No one can say that this project has come up at the last moment. …The reasons to build now are compelling.”

The fire house is in such deplorable condition that it doesn’t even meet the town’s safety codes. 

“It’s overcrowded and it’s in severe deterioration,” said Deputy Fire Chief Tom Mahoney as he began the presentation Thursday. He said critical repairs have been delayed because of the prospect of a new building, which never materialized. ​“It keeps getting put off, put off, put off,” Mahoney said.

Architect David Stein of Silver/Petrucelli and Associates, and site manager Todd Moss of Turner Construction outlined the project as they have at previous town meetings.

“Now is a good time to bid,” Moss said in regard to the construction industry, which has been hurting for work because of the recession. He said it’s possible that bids will come in lower than projected, as they have in other towns. If bidding occurs in September or October, he estimates work could begin in November. One of the first steps would be demolition of the adjacent public works building. The fire headquarters would be complete by March 2012.

“We’re really at the right time,” Stein said as he detailed the escalating needs of the fire department and the opportunity for lower construction costs because of the economy.

Dennis Flanigan, RTM clerk and a Republican member of the Public Services Committee, disagreed about the timing.

“The way we’re doing it now is backwards,” Flanigan said, adding that a building for public works should also be built. ​“I do support a new fire house, but I’m concerned about the money and I’m concerned about public works.”

“The price will continually go up and compound,” Stein responded. He said it’s not just construction costs that are lower, but that his architectural firm and Turner Construction are both taking lower fees for the fire house project because of the economy. ​“It’s what we’re all doing to keep our doors open.” Stein said.

“We all support a new fire house, but we think it’s expensive. I think the town father’s are doing it in the wrong order,” said Frank Twohill Jr., the RTM’s Republican minority leader. He questioned the logic of renting a space for public works.

Twohill suggested waiting until a new facility can be built for public works instead of leasing a space. ​“I think we can’t leave public works in limbo.” He and his fellow Republicans in the past voted against design plans for a new public works building. 

Michael Nardella, and Peter Black, both Republican member of Ways and Means, asked why the two facilities can’t both be built in the next two years. 

In June 2009, the Public Services and Ways and Means joint committees and the RTM voted unanimously to proceed with the design phase for the fire house. The committees, voting on a motion made by Nardella, voted 6 – 2 to not authorize design of the public works facility.

“You can’t blame the RTM,” Twohill argued, adding that nobody approved all the plans for the fire headquarters. Twohill alleged secrecy in the unfolding of the project. 

“That is not correct,” Reiners told Twohill. ​“We funded the design phase. The next phase is what we’re doing now. We all have full knowledge; no one can say it was behind closed doors.”

Nardella said he only approved funding for the design of the fire headquarters because of the possibility of federal funds, which didn’t materialize.

Doug Hanlon, a Democratic who chairs the Public Services Committee, asked if there is any future chance of state or federal funds for the project.

Chief Ahern said the town can apply for funding for portions of the fire house project once work begins.

Earlier in the meeting, Assistant Chief Mahoney addressed the issue of size. ​“We’re not just building for today,” he said. ​“We did put a lot of thought into the space requirements we need.” The design of the new fire house spans the next 50 years. 

Debate also centered on the amount of money for leasing a space for public works.

Two issues were under consideration Thursday: appropriating $12.5 million for the fire headquarters through a bond issue; and moving the public works building to a leased facility for three years at an estimated cost of $600,000. The new fire headquarters would be built on the current public works site. The chair of the Ways and Means Committee combined the two agenda items into one, which was voted down.

Ed Masotta, director of the Public Works Department, gave details of how the $600,000 would be spent. About $353,000 would be for leasing for three years, and the other funds would be for moving the equipment, and for some building upgrades. He said funds would also go toward utilities, which would have to be paid regardless of where the building is located. Masotta said costs could be lower, because they are still in negotiations with the prospective landlord.

Riccio repeatedly accused the current administration of having no long range plans, which DaRos and Finance Director Jim Finch absolutely disputed.

In the end, Democrats Avitable and O’Donnell, who sit next to each other when O’Donnell attends meetings, provided the swing votes.

Following the meeting, Reiners said she was ​“very disappointed” in the outcome. ​“I think there has been misunderstanding and misinformation out there about the public works appropriation,” she said.

###