BERNARDSTON — Bernardston residents will be asked to consider using $32,400 of the town’s free cash to fund a fire station expansion feasibility study during a special town meeting Wednesday.
Though special town meetings are ordinarily held at Bernardston Elementary School, the meeting will be held at the Bernardston Senior Center within the Powers Institute, located at 20 Church St., starting at 7 p.m.
The fire station feasibility study is one of six articles to be voted on during the meeting, and the most significant, according to Town Coordinator Hugh Campbell.
Earlier this year, Bernardston resident Frank “Bud” Foster donated a strip of land to the Fire Department to enable the expansion of the department’s facilities. The next step, Campbell explained, is for a feasibility study to be conducted on the property to determine whether the department should expand on its existing building or construct a new one altogether.
“We don’t know what makes sense financially or structurally or otherwise,” Campbell said.
Should town residents approve of conducting the study, the Board of Selectmen will need to appoint a New Fire Station Feasibility Study Committee, which will report its findings back to selectmen. Campbell hopes the study will be completed in time for spring’s annual town meeting so that the town might present voters with a recommended borrowing measure.
“We want to move that project forward,” Campbell said.
Campbell said another significant article before voters involves appropriating $20,000 of free cash to remove trees on town property that are considered hazardous to public safety.
Campbell said there are several trees that “pose a clear or immediate threat” by leaning over power lines or toward buildings. Dead or diseased trees also pose a threat.
The trees will be inspected and prioritized for removal by the Highway Department in consultation with the tree warden.
The four remaining articles to be voted on involve: appropriating $25,000 for the town’s contribution to replace the Town Hall furnace; adopting a bylaw stating the town moderator may declare any article requiring a two-third vote passed on a voice vote; appropriating $3,992.55 to pay heating oil expenses for the Highway Dept.; and appropriating $141.75 to pay the Conservation Commission/Zoning Board of Appeals clerk.
http://townofbernardston.org/images/clerk/townmeetings/STM-09-28-2016-Final.pdf