GREENVILLE, Maine — Now that Greenville voters have accredited a bond problem, the city will construct a brand new public security constructing to mix the fireplace and police departments, that are each grappling with outdated areas and constructing code violations.
Residents accredited as much as $5,150,000 in bonds to finance surveys, demolition, building and associated expenditures for the brand new constructing through the annual city assembly final week. Eighty individuals attended, and several other opposed the article, City Supervisor Mike Roy mentioned.
Throughout Maine, municipalities large and small have turned to public security buildings as long-term options to antiquated fireplace and police stations typically riddled with points. Greenville’s new constructing would minimize vitality prices and higher meet the wants of the departments and a neighborhood that has grown, resulting in elevated requires service.
The construction, which will probably be constructed on the website of the fireplace station on Minden Road, is estimated to value $2,065,791, in response to an engineering research accomplished in October 2021.
Hearth Chief Sawyer Murray listed a lot of points with the present 6,400-square-foot constructing, together with one rest room for all firefighters and no showers, lack of space for storing, no sizzling water and flooring drains that again up and generally freeze within the winter, leaving standing water on the ground.
“The fireplace station has outlived its life expectancy,” mentioned Murray, who oversees a employees of 21 firefighters, plus a junior, and 6 vehicles on the station. “Heating is totally outrageous with the quantity of oil we put in and issues of that nature. There’s no insulation. The roof leaks. They tried to make use of photo voltaic vitality for heating. That failed.”
The construction is the city’s largest vitality shopper, Roy mentioned. There may be additionally poor lighting, outdated rooms and snow injury to the outside. Firefighters’ jackets and boots are saved behind fireplace vehicles, so gear is uncovered to diesel exhaust when the automobiles are working, Murray mentioned.
An engineering report from Newport-based Plymouth Engineering mentioned Greenville’s steel-frame fireplace station, in-built 1963, is worn and dated. It stays structurally sound regardless of not assembly constructing code necessities, the report mentioned.
Plymouth Engineering estimated it could value $1,861,746 to renovate the present construction. Due to the roughly $200,000 distinction between the price of renovations and of constructing, it is smart to place up a brand new constructing, Roy mentioned.
Murray identified that extra guests are flocking to the Moosehead Lake area. In comparison with this time final 12 months, the fireplace division’s calls have nearly doubled, he mentioned.
The police division, housed contained in the city workplace on Minden Road, is battling a cramped area that doesn’t enable quick access to information and proof for circumstances. Data are saved in a vault on the fireplace station.
Maine’s yellow-flag gun security regulation permits police to confiscate weapons, however there is no such thing as a place to retailer them, Police Chief Jim Carr mentioned.
“Simply making an attempt to interview a sufferer or one thing, there’s nowhere to take a seat and speak in personal,” he mentioned, noting the division’s three full-time staff and 9 reserve officers have about 400 sq. ft to work with.
The police division has seen an uptick in calls, which vary from theft to psychological health-related emergencies, Carr mentioned. Drug-related calls have elevated considerably, too.
Three years in the past, the division would have gotten a few half-dozen calls yearly from midnight to eight a.m. Now officers get a number of a month, he mentioned.
The general public security constructing may have area to interview suspects and victims, a decent-sized room to correctly retailer proof and a gathering space for officers and different businesses working collectively on a case somewhat than discussing data within the car parking zone, Carr mentioned.
A committee, together with the city supervisor, fireplace and police chiefs, city officers from the choose and planning boards, two residents and several other others, has spent the final 12 months discussing its imaginative and prescient and funding, together with visiting websites in Brewer, Newport and Carrabassett Valley, Roy mentioned. They like Newport’s public security constructing particularly – particularly the sleeping quarters – and need to use it as a mannequin.
Left to proper, On the Greenville Hearth Division, firefighters’ gear is saved behind the vehicles due to restricted storage within the outdated constructing. Jackets and boots are uncovered to diesel exhaust, Hearth Chief Sawyer Murray mentioned. The inside of the Greenville Hearth Division is riddled with points, together with a lately changed door panel on the underside, diesel exhaust buildup and an exhaust fan that doesn’t operate adequately. Credit score: Courtesy of Greenville Public Security Constructing
The committee utilized for a congressionally directed spending grant value $901,748,000 in April, which has moved to the appropriations committee, Roy mentioned. He hopes to listen to again about it within the subsequent two months. The city had additionally been placing cash in a capital enchancment account for constructing research, he mentioned.
The primary debt service funds could be due in November 2023.
The bond is predicted to be issued in Might 2023, with plans to repay it over the course of 15 years, in response to the article that residents voted on final week.
“It’s going to be a extra user-friendly constructing,” Murray mentioned. “We’re going to have the ability to retailer our stuff correctly and keep our stuff higher. It’s going to be more healthy for us. I additionally work per diem for the police division, and I do know it’s going to be an enormous aid to supply sleeping quarters.”
For details about the general public security constructing and to view proposed blueprints, go to Greenville’s city web site.
