Chicopee finance committee approves engineering funds after concrete spall found under fire apparatus bays

The Chicopee Finance Committee approved funding on April 8 to pay for immediate removal of a spalled section of concrete beneath two apparatus bays at the city’s Fire Headquarters and to finance engineering and cost-estimating for possible long-term repairs.

The request before the committee sought an appropriation from available undesignated fund balance (free cash) to cover the engineering work and the removal of the loose concrete, which the city’s fire chief and a consulting engineer said posed a safety risk. “There is a safety concern that 1 section of the concrete has spalled,” Fire Chief Daniel Stamborski wrote in a letter read at the meeting. The chief asked the committee to “approve the funds to have an engineering firm create specs so we can send it out to bid for proper repair.”

In a separate letter read into the record, Mark Lauringer, senior associate with Gale and Associates of Glastonbury, Connecticut, wrote that “the concrete spall requires removal. Although the spall does not appear to directly affect the capacity of the floor slab, the spalled concrete extends over a larger area of the ceiling and is heavy enough to warrant its removal as it poses an imminent fall hazard to all persons and equipment in the general area.”

City staff explained the immediate appropriation covers two components: (1) removal of the overhead spalled concrete to eliminate the imminent fall hazard and (2) engineering and schematic design work that cost estimators can use to produce a full repair cost estimate. The staff presentation said the city already has a structural review of the bay; the requested funds will let the engineer work with cost estimators and produce formal bid-ready documents and cost numbers.

Committee members asked about timing, scope and whether corrosion of embedded steel (girders) was expected. Engineering and staff said two repair options are being considered — either installing structural “skeleton” beams like those already used under two other bays or conducting a different remediation depending on the cost estimate — and that the cost-estimating work could take about three to four weeks. Staff said removal of the loose concrete and the protective scaffolding could proceed before the full repair contract is funded and awarded.

A member of the public, Lisa Bienvenue, asked whether rebar was visible and urged the city to post safe floor loading and to disclose the square footage affected and the split between engineering and repair costs. Staff responded that the spall showed cracking but no exposed rebar and confirmed that affected bays are not in active use for fire trucks; some equipment is parked elsewhere while the work proceeds.

The committee approved the funding request in a unanimous roll-call vote. The transcript contains inconsistent figures for the requested amount (the agenda text and later roll-call motions reference both $26,476 and $226,476). Committee materials presented at the meeting listed the appropriation as $26,476; committee members agreed to fund removal of the spalled concrete and engineering work and told staff to return with a full cost estimate for the permanent repair and a recommended procurement path.

The committee’s vote authorizes staff to proceed with immediate removal of the spalled concrete and to fund engineering and cost-estimating; it does not authorize final repair construction. Staff said they would return to the full City Council to request the larger appropriation required to complete permanent repairs once cost estimates and bid documents are ready.

Committee action (vote and next steps) closes with staff directed to obtain cost estimates and prepare procurement documents for the full repair and to coordinate scheduling so the city can put the repair work out to bid after council approval.