New plan for EMS
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The price tag for a new EMS building, which serves Putnam and Thompson, came in at $6 million. The idea to lease space from the East Putnam Fire Department wouldn’t work because it would put EMS too far away from Thompson.
What the ad hoc EMS committee then settled on was a plan to place two manufactured homes in the space between the Putnam Fire Department and the current EMS facility.
Town Administrator and committee member Elaine Sistare said the 1,200 square foot combined building would contain three bedrooms, a kitchen area and a shower area. It would measure 27 feet wide and 44 feet long. She said one of the bedrooms would be turned into an office. There would be nice clean modern space for sleeping, showers, cooking, a conference space and bathrooms.
It has only been in “recent years,” she said that the EMS crews have moved to 24/7 shifts and the department’s needs have changed.
The emergency vehicles would stay in the current building. That building was built in 1960 and saw a modest upgrade in 2000. But it does not meet regulation. The crews do not have a good place to “decontaminate” after returning from a call. The shower in the current building is being used for storage, Sistare said.
The total cost would be about $300,000, she said. The cost of the homes is between $100,000 and $120,000 but with the site work, foundation, utilities and fees, it might hit $300,000.
The two homes would be craned into place and then joined together.
Sistare said the building would sit the same distance from Church Street as the current buildings do now. Traffic would have to be reworked with vehicles either going around the left side of the now-long set of buildings or to the right around the police station.
EMS parking would also have to be reconfigured, she said.
She said the town would use state Local Capital Improvement Program (LOCIP) funding it has on hand.
More than a year ago, the town applied for a $250,000 federal grant through Senator Richard Blumenthal’s office. But $160,000 was awarded and then not approved. “It’s tentatively approved,” Sistare said. It hangs in limbo.
A new application cycle is coming in a couple months so the town intends to put in for a grant again. If that is successful that grant will be used plus whatever part of the LOCIP money is needed for the balance. She added that recently the town’s Board of Finance approved the use of the LOCIP funds.
She hopes to put out a Request For Proposals for the project in a few weeks. And that would mean a decision on the proposals sometime in May. The manufactured home requires three to four months lead time so if all goes well, the town might have a November completion date.
“This will give us a solution for a couple years or maybe even 10,” she said.
.
caption, page 5:
The new EMS quarters would be between the current quarters, left, and the Putnam Fire Department building. Linda Lemmon photo.