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Cheshire council approves voter‑records cabinets, three school roof grants, AFG application for breathing apparatus and Everbridge alert contract
Summary
At its May 27 special meeting the Cheshire Town Council approved spending up to $30,000 from contingency for fireproof voter‑records cabinets, authorized three school roof grant applications (Cheshire High $365,000; Highland Elementary $1,150,000; Doolittle Elementary $2,650,000), approved an AFG grant application of $1 million with a 10% match for SCBA replacement, and authorized a three‑year Everbridge emergency alert contract.
The Town of Cheshire Town Council used a May 27 special meeting to clear a set of routine but time‑sensitive items and to hear a vendor presentation.
The council unanimously approved Resolution 052726‑1 to appropriate up to $30,000 from the FY2025‑26 contingency account to buy four Fire King fireproof cabinets for the Registrar of Voters office. Fiona Pearson introduced the item; Town Manager Shawn M. Kimball described the request as time‑sensitive because the primary election is in August and the existing six‑drawer cabinets are about 45 years old. Kimball said the cabinets will meet a state storage requirement and that Public Works will construct platforms to keep the roughly 600‑pound units off the floor. “It is a compliance issue,” Kimball said, explaining the need to move before the next fiscal year.
The council next approved three standardized school construction grant resolutions that authorize the Cheshire Board of Education to apply for roof projects connected to the town’s Energy Performance Contract 2.0. Deb Mankey introduced the trio of resolutions and the council approved them unanimously: $365,000 for Cheshire High School (Res. 052726‑2A), $1,150,000 for Highland Elementary (Res. 052726‑2B) and $2,650,000 for Doolittle Elementary (Res. 052726‑2C). Kimball and staff said the resolutions are the standard language required by the school construction grant program and that the BOE had approved the same language.
On firefighting equipment, the council authorized application for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant administered by DHS/FEMA (Res. 052‑726‑3). The grant request seeks up to $1 million to replace self‑contained breathing apparatus (SCBAs); the town would provide a 10% municipal match of $100,000 if awarded. Chief Kessner told the council the department’s current SCBAs are approaching the end of their service life and that the replacements would help the department comply with NFPA/serviceability standards; staff indicated plans to replace roughly 82 units and noted the department might downsize one vehicle to correspondingly reduce equipment needs. The motion to apply passed unanimously.
The council also approved a three‑year contract with Everbridge for the town’s emergency community alert system (Res. 052726‑4) and authorized Town Manager Shawn M. Kimball to execute the contract upon town‑attorney review. Kimball and emergency management staff described repeated reliability and data‑conversion problems with the town’s current Code Red platform (including an outage and at least one non‑emergency call that went out at 1 a.m.), and said Everbridge was both the state’s platform backbone and slightly less expensive than current Code Red expenditures. Council approved the contract unanimously and staff said Everbridge would begin a free overlap period before billing.
After the Site Stream presentation (covered in a separate article), the council referred a wastewater treatment‑plant maintenance position (EW‑7) to the personnel committee for review and recommendation. The meeting adjourned by unanimous vote.
Ending: The council approved the listed appropriations, grant authorizations and contract authorization; staff and the police chief will return with a traffic‑analysis and proposed business rules before the council considers any automated‑enforcement contract.
