Assistant Chiefs McKay and Stromgren, Chief Nelson
Thursday morning the Joint Capital Planning Committee heard a presentation from AFD top brass for capital items needed in the upcoming year to help protect public safety (more on that later).
But first Chief Nelson updated the committee on the l-o-n-g sought new South Fire Station and the breaking news was -- for a change -- good news.
Or for you folks living in South Amherst, very good news.
The Chief reports the "search and acquisition phase" for land is quickly coming to a close, one that will "finally bring this whole thing to fruition." Chief Nelson quickly added, "It almost scares me because it makes too much sense."
While no specific seller was mentioned (or possible donor) since the project is called "South Station" it's for sure going to be located in South Amherst, and the Chief confirmed it woulld be along RT 116/South Pleasant Street within a mile or 1.5 miles of town center.
While AFD Central Station is not quite as old as this 1888 bell, pretty close: 1928
A $10 to $12 million capital request for a new South Station has appeared over the past couple years on five-year-plan spreadsheets brought before the JCPC.
When I ran for Select Board in 1988 my simple platform was to sell the recently acquired municipal Cherry Hill Golf Course and put the proceeds into a new fire station in South Amherst.
The Chief also mentioned to JCPC he found reference to a 1955 consultant's report that called for a new additional station.
Another fire station. This sounds like a very expensive proposition. The town already have two fire stations, and a top heavy bureaucracy structure in place. We got one fire chief and two assistant chief. Do they fight the fire at all? We need to study our neighbor town, like Hadley manage this. Yeah. We got UMass. But Umass should pay for their usage of town's facilities.
ReplyDeleteAmherst has large unfunded pension and retiree health care liability. It is estimated to be in the ballpark of $50 millions. See this,
http://www.amherstma.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/3368
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amhersttownmeeting/message/6512?var=1&l=1
Our town bureaucracy has pile people into its payroll at the expense of town's fiscal prudence. Unfunded financial liability of the town? Not bureaucracy's problem, as long as when it explodes, the bureaucracy is retiring and enjoy sun and beach in Florida.
Curmudgeon.
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ReplyDeleteoh god, that d**kface kelley is here with his f**king camera... why doesn't that pr**k get a job?? can we trespass him from the town hall?"
I hate Florida. Scottsville maybe...
ReplyDeleteActually Cowardly Anon Nitwit 12:39 AM, the Fire Department is not in the least bit afraid of transparency.
ReplyDeleteI wish a few other departments in town had the same attitude.
has the town reached out to people in south amherst to tell them about this plan? not me.
ReplyDeleteOnce again people haven't been paying attention. It has been reported for years that the central station is to small, the modern day trucks barely fit in there, and it is in very poor condition.
ReplyDeleteThey have discussed putting a new station south of town center for years also. It has been in the paper many times.
It is time for an upgrade.
Kelley called someone a curmudgeon? Wow.
ReplyDeleteYes CAN, my namecalling is pretty limited: curmudgeon and Cowardly Anon Nitwit.
ReplyDeleteTHAT'S MR. CAN TO YOU SIR.
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