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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-02-13-PBC-min.pdf TOWN OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS PERMANENT BUILDING COMMITTEE Minutes of February 13 1992 Meeting in Room 105, Town Office Building, as corrected on page 1 March 12 , 1992, (Fire Dept info) , and on page 2 April 21, 1992 The meeting was called to order by Chairman Kennedy at 7 47 p m with other committee members Bergeron, Donnelly, Johnson, and Edson present, as well as Town Manager White PBC Role in Fire Department/Protection Area Chief Bergeron has asked to upgrade the Fire Department Headquarters for the past several years The PBC should be part of the planning process to reexamine needs , now different from when the Headquarters were first built Possibly the Fire and Police departments could share some areas of communication and training, such as physical fitness and CPR/emergency Fire Department needs must also be carefully considered, along with most economical use of financial resources Noted that Civil Defense forces are composed of Fire Department personnel plus a few volunteers Standards of physical fitness for protection workers are to be imposed soon, but no funds have been provided for this Presently town protection workers have some privileges at Hayden and some fitness clubs Particularly needed would be stairs and bicycle-type equipment Nearby towns of Arlington and Winchester have combined police/fire headquarters, sharing some aspects of communications and administration In addition to the above-mentioned indoor facilities , the Fire personnel need outdoor space for training with the Jaws of Life and hose testing Lexington has a long history of two centers for fire equipment and personnel , beginning in the 1830 ' s with the privately-funded purchase of two hand engines, one in East Lexington Although Lexington's fire ' equipment was housed at the East Lexington Fire Station location since 1857 , the town did not acquire the site for full fire house use until 1873 That wooden building at Locust Ave and Massachusetts Avenue was demolished and replaced with the present structure in 1951 (See A History of Engine One Lexington, a 15-page report by the Fire Department that the Secretary will return to the March meeting) Chief Bergeron told the committee that his department responded to 1500 fire and 1300 ambulance calls Among the options noted were 1 Do nothing 2 Rehabilitate present HQ, retaining two stations 3 Consolidate Fire on One site 4 Combine and consolidate police with intercommunity dispatching for fire Committee members , agreed that all possible options must be considered Lt Donnelly lauded the central HQ location, where there are some sleeping rooms , as the firefighters work 10-hour day shifts and 14-hour night shifts Donnelly and Bergeron agreed to list square footage of future needs (probably to include an elevator) as well as existing facilities Fire discussion concluded at 9 p m I PBC Minutes 2/13/92 - Page 2 Report on Schools projects progress On January 27 the Chairman and Ted Edson met with Craig Stewart, TAMS and Chartwell regarding J P ' s plans to sue the town for $500, 000 This claim has been nearly all analyzed, with some more work to be done by TAMS in the next two weeks Chairman expressed opposition to negotiating with J P He pointed out the town's reputation for being strong winners , and the need to continue this stance as a message to J P Edson did not agree completely Field House Roof money apparently exceeded appropriation in efforts to gather facts for the court case New Capital Program for Schools Committee members opined that the KLQ needs assessment should not be repeated but that a more extensive analysis of mechanical systems should be done The more recent Geiger/Moynihan Master Plan was praised Committee members McCabe and Touart participated in planning the capital proposal for the upcoming Town Meeting (elevator for the High School , elevator and science labs improvements for Diamond) Noted that Higashi School has two more years in the Hastings School before town will reoccupy the whole building Meeting adjourned at 9 18 p m until March 12, 1992 at 7 30 p m Respectfully� submitted, flat-t-- 41'e/aat-, Erna S Greene Secretary to the Committee