TURNERS FALLS — Special town meeting voters approved a $100,000 funding request that would remedy safety problems at the Strathmore complex and bring the town into compliance with a mandate from the State Fire Marshal.
The funding came despite concerns that the town was spending too much money on a complex of buildings that continues to create problems. Town Administrator Steve Ellis said demolishing the building would cost $4 to $5 million, and that town officials have to comply with the Fire Marshal’s order whether or not they want to eventually demolish it.
“I hate to see us spend $100,000 on this building, I hate to spend a $1,000,” Selectboard chairman Richard Kuklewicz said. “But we really don’t have this choice.”
Ellis said the town has not spent any of the $380,000 appropriated for abatement of materials inside Strathmore at the last town meeting. He said the town is applying for two grants that could help with the cost before they use town funding.
All nine of the other articles passed.
The meeting was briefly derailed during a presentation on an article to create a fund to pay for police officers injured in the line of duty. Town Meeting member David Detmold asked Charles “Chip” Dodge, chief of police, to come down to the front, and began asking Dodge about why the Police Department is suspended from participating in a regional anti-crime task force and a pharmaceuticals drop-off program.
“What is going on with drugs in this town?” Detmold asked while members of the meeting shouted and the moderator, Raymond Godin, tried to bring the meeting back into order.
“David, come see me in my office,” Dodge said over the noise.
Dodge called officers to the scene at the request of the moderator, but no arrests were made.
Detmold also asked in the public meeting why Dodge was placed on leave and then reinstated, and specifically why both actions took place in executive session of the town selectboard.
Detmold eventually handed over the microphone and went into the hallway. He later returned to the meeting.
Godin said it was the first time in 20 years he had to call someone out of order and threaten to remove them from the meeting.
The town meeting vote on the Strathmore comes after an order from the State Fire Marshal’s Office stemming from a break in the sprinkler system that cause flooding. The sprinkler system went off in the former paper mill buildings in December. Since it did not trigger an alarm, 1.2 million gallons of water poured into some of the buildings.
Once the town, the Turners Falls Fire Department, and the State Fire Marshal assessed the damage, the Fire Marshal’s office sent the town an order requesting certain problems in the buildings be remedied by Feb. 21.
The town has taken steps but needed the authorization of the town at this meeting to move forward with the project.
Chief among the problems mentioned by the Fire Marshal’s office was keeping unauthorized people out of the buildings and otherwise securing them. The town also has to remove hazardous material from the building, repair leaks in the roof and weather-proof the building, and repair the sprinkler system.
Once the buildings are secure, they will be marked with a red “X” that will notify firefighters that there is no one inside the building and that firefighters should use caution when entering the buildings, or fight the fire from outside the building. According to Turners Falls Fire Chief John Zellmann, attaching the red “X” to the buildings does not automatically condemn the buildings, but is a visible precaution to prevent unnecessary safety issues for firefighters if a fire should happen.
After the funding has been acquired, the town will put out an “RFP” or request for proposals, seeking bids on the project. Once the bids are received, Ellis said the town will select the lowest bid.
Reach Miranda Davis at
mdavis@recorder.com.