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Resident raises FOIA concerns over Charlestown Fire District meetings and HUD grant for old fire station
Summary
A resident told the Charlestown Town Council she filed a FOIA request after failing to obtain minutes and other records from the Charlestown Fire District about plans for the town’s old fire station and alleged the district pursued a HUD grant that proposed demolition without further public meetings.
A Charlestown resident told the Town Council she filed a Freedom of Information Act request after she could not obtain minutes for meetings the Charlestown Fire District held about the future of the old fire station, and she asked the council to consider whether the town could help the community preserve the building.
Sandra Pachalski said she had attached October 20, 2021 meeting minutes to her FOIA request and that the community had been told at that meeting that no decisions would be made and that further meetings would be scheduled. Pachalski said the fire district did not hold additional public meetings, that promised community participation did not follow, and that she believed a HUD grant application contained a narrative proposing demolition without public input. She said she filed complaints with HUD concerning a $610,000 grant and asked the council to review the minutes and explore whether the town could help save the building.
Councilors and town staff responded that the town does not own the property and has no authority over the independent Charlestown Fire District’s real-estate decisions. Councilors said the town may not have accepted any donation of the property and that the proper forum for changing the district’s plans is the fire-district board itself.
Town staff offered to obtain any additional minutes or records the town holds and to place the matter on a future council agenda if the council wishes to discuss potential town involvement. Councilor Stokes and others said the council could consider whether to add the item to a future meeting agenda after staff compiles records.
Pachalski asked the council to look into budget records that she said should have shown maintenance funds for the building; she said she could not find evidence those funds were spent on upkeep. She noted the lack of a written surplus-property policy in the fire-district bylaws and said that, in her view, the community had been prevented from participating in the building’s future.
Council members noted the limits of town authority and directed staff to gather records and advise how, if at all, the council could legally assist. No formal action was taken at the meeting; councilors agreed to obtain additional documents and consider placing the item on a future agenda.
