The following provides a summary of the revised public safety improvement plan the Board of Selectmen will be bringing to the Annual Town Meeting and the… Annual Town Election on Monday May 2nd and Thursday May 5th. The Board listened to the concerns raised by the public from the initial proposal, and arrived at a new plan that is:
1. significantly smaller in scale;
2. significantly less costly;
3. staffs three (3) Fire/EMS stations in town.
Specifically, the new proposal:
* Includes three (3) staffed Fire/EMS substations
* Maintains current Rt. 6A Fire/EMS headquarters
* Adds new dormitory to staff current East Sandwich Fire/EMS substation
* Adds new Fire/EMS substation at corner of QMR/Cotuit Rd.
* Enables the closure of Forestdale Fire Station
* Requires $750,000 override to hire (8) EMS/Fire personnel
* Includes new Police headquarters at corner of QMR/Cotuit Rd.
* Enables the closure of current Police headquarters
* Significantly lower cost compared to original $30 million proposal
* Current cost estimate: $16 – $18 million range
* Significantly smaller footprint compared to original proposal
* Combined 23,000 sq. ft. vs. original 71,000 sq. ft. proposal
* Timeline, from the date of Town Meeting & ballot approval:
* 10 months for architects to finalize design and construction documents, plus
* 1½ – 2 years for bidding and construction
* FY19 construction complete
Soon the Town will be providing much more detailed, line-by-line cost estimates prepared by independent professional cost estimator, as well as artistic renderings of building exteriors. Stay tuned to Board of Selectmen meetings every Thursday night at 7:00pm on local cable access channel 15, as this item will be discussed at the end of each meeting.