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Vote shortfall sinks Northfield public safety complex
Voters at Wednesday’s Special Town Meeting in Northfield line up at Pioneer Valley Regional School to vote via paper ballot on an article to raise and appropriate $13.5 million for pay for a new 18,200-square-foot public safety complex. Residents voted 191-157 and the article failed to get a required two-thirds majority. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI » Buy this Image
Northfield Fire Chief Floyd “Skip” Dunnell III speaks at Wednesday’s Special Town Meeting at Pioneer Valley Regional School in Northfield. An article asked voters to raise and appropriate $13.5 million for pay for a new 18,200-square-foot public safety complex. Residents voted 191-157 and the article failed to get a required two-thirds majority. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI » Buy this Image
Vote counters sort through ballots in the library at Pioneer Valley Regional School during a Special Town Meeting on Wednesday. An article asked voters to raise and appropriate $13.5 million for pay for a new 18,200-square-foot public safety complex. Residents voted 191-157 and the article failed to get a required two-thirds majority. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI » Buy this Image
People line up to sign in at the Special Town Meeting at Pioneer Valley Regional School on Wednesday. An article asked voters to raise and appropriate $13.5 million for pay for a new 18,200-square-foot public safety complex. Residents voted 191-157 and the article failed to get a required two-thirds majority. At least 422 voters attended the meeting. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI » Buy this Image
People line up to sign in at the Special Town Meeting at Pioneer Valley Regional School on Wednesday. An article asked voters to raise and appropriate $13.5 million for pay for a new 18,200-square-foot public safety complex. Residents voted 191-157 and the article failed to get a required two-thirds majority. At least 422 voters attended the meeting. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI » Buy this Image
People line up to sign in at the Special Town Meeting at Pioneer Valley Regional School on Wednesday. An article asked voters to raise and appropriate $13.5 million for pay for a new 18,200-square-foot public safety complex. Residents voted 191-157 and the article failed to get a required two-thirds majority. At least 422 voters attended the meeting. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI » Buy this Image
People line up to sign in at the Special Town Meeting at Pioneer Valley Regional School on Wednesday. An article asked voters to raise and appropriate $13.5 million for pay for a new 18,200-square-foot public safety complex. Residents voted 191-157 and the article failed to get a required two-thirds majority. At least 422 voters attended the meeting. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI » Buy this Image
People line up to sign in at the Special Town Meeting at Pioneer Valley Regional School on Wednesday. An article asked voters to raise and appropriate $13.5 million for pay for a new 18,200-square-foot public safety complex. Residents voted 191-157, and the article failed to get a required two-thirds majority. At least 422 voters attended the meeting. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI » Buy this Image
Staff Writer
Published: 4/20/2023 5:23:48 PM
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NORTHFIELD — It might be back to the drawing board for the Emergency Services Facility Committee after an article to fund a new public safety complex failed to pass by enough votes at a Special Town Meeting Wednesday night.
Voters in Pioneer Valley Regional School’s auditorium were asked for their blessing to raise and appropriate $13.5 million for pay for a new 18,200-square-foot public safety complex on a nearly 27-acre property at 121 Main St. Residents voted 191-157 in favor of the project, but the article did not receive the two-thirds majority necessary for adoption of borrowing authorizations, zoning changes, and property acquisition and transfers.
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“I was happy for the support we received,” Northfield Fire Chief Floyd “Skip” Dunnell III said by phone Thursday morning, adding that the meeting provided “a good swap of information.”
Dunnell said he wasn’t sure if he would be able to attend Thursday afternoon’s Emergency Services Facility Committee meeting to talk next steps, because he had already returned from a vacation to attend the Town Meeting. But, he said, he will still advocate for this proposal that is two years in the making.
“The need is too important and the parcel is too valuable to just walk away,” he said.
The project’s cost is estimated at $14.4 million, with a $1.6 million contingency. The Finance Committee had already set aside more than $1 million for the project, some of which has been used for engineering and design work to date, reducing the borrowing needed for the facility.
Wednesday’s meeting began with a project update provided by Anthony DiLuzio, senior project manager from Colliers International, and John MacMillan, principal architect with Caolo & Bieniek Associates Inc. DiLuzio showed photos of the current Fire Station and said it was “not really designed for today’s emergencies and today’s responses.” He explained firefighters and other first responders returning from calls often inadvertently carry carcinogenic and biological compounds on their gear, and the proposed building would include showers in the back area where emergency personnel could wash their equipment and themselves.
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DiLuzio said the project could potentially be started in June and last 14 months.
Dunnell told the crowd the Emergency Services Facility Committee has been as frugal as possible with this proposed design, which should last 35 to 50 years.
“It checks all the boxes, meets all the criteria,” he said.
The average Northfield home is currently valued at $277,000. This means the proposed facility would increase the average single-family home tax bill an estimated $236 in fiscal year 2025, $399 in fiscal year 2026 and $400 in 2027.
Bernhard Porada, of the Northfield Finance Committee, said the committee unanimously recommended the article as well as another one that pertained to transferring from available funds or otherwise providing money to pay for the new building. This article was adopted overwhelmingly while vote counters sorted through paper ballots for the first article.
The presentation was followed by a time for questions and then a discussion before the vote.
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Larry Flynn was the first person to stand up during the discussion.
“Let’s do it,” he said succinctly to some applause.
Paul Gorzocoski III expressed gratitude for the town’s police officers, firefighters and EMTs, but said this proposed project is too expensive for Northfield.
“Our tax bills are raising fast, even without this building,” he said, equating the proposed facility to “a billionaire’s yacht.”
Selectboard member Alexander Meisner then took to the microphone to tell the audience the town’s emergency personnel put themselves in grave danger to help their fellow citizens. He turned to Gorzocoski, who was now sitting down, and yelled that referring to the proposed building as a billionaire’s yacht was “the most offensive thing.” This outburst generated jeers from people in the crowd and moderator Nathan L’Etoile told Meisner to remain respectful and not address any specific citizen.
Melinda Griffin said she was initially opposed to the first article but changed her mind after recalling an unfortunate incident from her childhood. She said that when she was 9 years old, a boy died when he was crushed by a pickup truck after falling off the back of it in front of her home. She recounted that Northfield did not have an ambulance at that time and the adults tending to the boy had to wait for one to arrive from Greenfield. Griffin said she is now a mother of two and cannot imagine having to wait an extended period of time for an ambulance to save a child.
Amanda Lynch, Northfield’s assistant town clerk, said 422 registered voters and 25 non-voters showed up on Wednesday. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. and was delayed by about a half hour to accommodate the flood of people trickling in. It ended at roughly 11:15 p.m. With the auditorium’s capacity being 500, Dunnell said the meeting nearly had to be postponed and rescheduled.
“We had a tough time squeezing everybody in,” he said.
Some people stood during the meeting and others stayed in the hallway for much of it.
“I expect to see each one of you here in two weeks for the Annual Town Meeting,” L’Etoile told the crowd before the Special Town Meeting commenced.
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Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-930-4120.
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