LYNNFIELD — The Public Safety Building Committee presented the results of its work on a multipurpose shared headquarters for the Fire and Police departments to the Select Board on Monday night, estimating the cost of the project at $41.25 million.
“It is great to see the both of you are working so closely together,” said Richard Dalton, chair of the Select Board to the Fire Chief Glenn Davis and Police Chief Nick Secatore, both of whom were appointed to the Public Safety Building Committee along with John Scenna, Finance Committee member Kristen Elworthy and Select Board representative Joseph Connell in August 2021.
Three years ago, the Strategic Planning Committee identified two high priority needs of the town, said Rob Dolan, town administrator, in the foreword to the presentation. One of them was the elementary-school project, which was completed on time and under budget; the second one would be a Public Safety Building that would provide a shared headquarters for Lynnfield’s Fire and Police departments.
“We feel we have a very strong proposal to bring to the Town Meeting in May,” said Scenna.
Based on the evaluation of existing facilities, their deficiencies and needs of the departments and a conducted feasibility study, the Public Safety Building Committee is proposing to build an addition to the Town Hall, bring it up to the fire code and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, and construct a new two-story building at the Lynnfield South Fire Station site at 598 Salem St.
The PM&C construction company that worked on the school project estimated the cost of the public-safety project at $41.25 million, Scenna said.
According to the proposed timeline, the design of the two buildings would be done in 2022–23. In 2023, the town could put out a bid for the construction of the new South Station, which will be built in 2023–24 while the two departments will continue to work out of their offices in Town Hall.
In 2024, the bidding for the addition to Town Hall would take place with construction completed in the late fall of 2025.
This schedule would work well for financing the project without putting much additional burden on the taxpayers, Dolan said, because the current debt for the middle school will come off the books in 2025-26, so no additional tax increases would be necessary.
“We want to be very respectful of the taxpayers,” Dolan said.
A bond will be issued in the year when the old debt goes off the books, Dolan said. Meanwhile the town can handle the expenses needed for the design of the project.
Further recommendations from the Public Safety Building Committee included appropriating $3.5 million for the design of the project, keeping the committee in place to manage the design phase and authorizing the committee to choose an architect, Scenna said.
Currently, both departments are crammed into properties that were built in the 1960s. Davis said that the Fire Department can barely fit its ladder truck and close the door at the Town Hall station.
Personal and protective gear of the personnel barely fits into tight bays and is exposed to fumes of the vehicles. There is a lack of space to hang and store items. Medical equipment is stored around the wall while the ice machine is right beside the chemicals that disinfect the floors.
“We have utilized every square inch,” Davis said.
The dayroom is used both for meals and plan reviews with the public. The station doesn’t have dedicated sleeping space because when it was built there was no round-the-clock service. An additional twin bed was installed for the personnel to sleep in the chief’s office.
A similar situation is seen at the South Fire Station. Both facilities have only one bathroom each for male and female firefighters to use.
The Lynnfield Police Station has no proper vestibule to interface with the public, Secatore said. The kitchen space is used for roll call, as a conference room, coffee room and audio/visual equipment storage.
Officers do not have a dedicated quiet room to do their reports. A conference room is used as an interrogation room.
“We do have women employees,” Secatore said, but there are no women facilities.
The area used for women’s lockers has a booking cell in it for females, but no shower. The general booking and holding area is short on space as well.
“Clearly what we have is deficient,” said Secatore.
The new shared addition at Town Hall will have a shared covered entrance and a new community room for meetings and training during the day and recreation purposes at night, Scenna said. Renovations will include an elevator installation and ADA-compliant hallways.
The South Station site has some traffic challenges; thus, construction of a new facility would involve improving public safety of that intersection, Scenna said.
“Right now is the time to do it,” said Connell, who explained that the town is in good financial standing and has an opportunity to work on both sites.
He said that it is the town’s obligation to the talented police and firemen and women and to the Route 1 area that the South Station services.