Fire pg 1 8-16-12
- Details
- Category: Past Issues
Fire
station
funds fall
into place
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- With most of the funding lined up, the East Putnam Fire District is getting ready to start the process of building a new fire station, designed to carry the district into the next century.
U.S. Congressman Joe Courtney, 2nd District, last week announced that the fire district won a $3.3 million low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development , for the $4.6 million project.
In addition, the town submitted a $500,000 request for a Small Town Economic Assistant Program (STEAP) grant on behalf of the East Putnam Fire District. Town Administrator Douglas M. Cutler said the request was submitted July 31 and the town should hear back sometime in the fall, probably October, if the request was granted. State Senate Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr. had written a letter of support that went along with the grant.
Cutler said the grant money would come into the town's coffers and then the town would distribute it to the East Putnam Fire District.
The way USDA low-interest loans work, Cutler said, is that the East Putnam Fire District, using temporary borrowing, builds the fire station and then receives the USDA low-interest loan. When the town looks for temporary loans, it uses a financial expert to create a request for temporary borrowing, a bond authorization. It could be similar a bid request or a negotiated plan. The district would be looking for the best loan deal, low interest, good terms. That is the funding that would be used for construction. When the construction is finished, the district pays back that loan with the USDA loan and the USDA loan is repaid over a long period of time, perhaps 30 years, at a low-interest rate.
East Putnam Fire District President Douglas Cutler Jr. said the district's Board of Directors will set a special meeting, probably in September, to official accept/not accept the loan. He said the district is still on track to break ground in early 2013 and that the dedication of a finished new fire station may take place in early 2014.
The 13,062-square foot station would be built on 21 acres west of the current fire station built in 1955 on leased land on Rt. 44. The existing fire station contains 3,132 square feet of space, with major deficiencies that cannot be addressed as it sits on a piece of leased land. The district started saving money for the project --- "whenever that day came" --- around 2001, President Cutler said. Thus far, the district has spent about $450,000 on buying the 21 acres further west on Rt. 44, including costs and another $30,000 on an architect's advice and design work. He said they are finishing working with the architects and engineers on construction documents and that work should come to about $185,000. So between $650,000 and $750,000 will have been spent thus far. President Cutler said they believe the price tag for construction will be around $3.5 million and they hope the bids will come in low, as they are want to do in tough economic times. "Contractors are looking for work," he said.
"It'll be great if the STEAP grant comes to fruition. It will make a project we can afford even more affordable," he added.
"When I was a firefighter in the '80s and '90s, the older firefighters would talk about 'some day' there might be a new fire station," President Cutler said. "Making that dream a reality is simply awesome!"