Effingham committee narrows plans for fire/police station, sets March deadline for final design

The Effingham design committee agreed to move forward on a plan that would renovate the town's existing 40-by-80 fire station, add a 40-by-40 apparatus bay and include a roughly 30-by-60 meeting addition, and to prepare final drawings and cost estimates in time for bond hearings.

"My goal ... by March, I would like to have the committee decide on which building, which ones, have it completely decided on, put out for estimate so we know where we're going at that point," the Chair said, setting the committee's schedule for design and estimating.

The group spent the bulk of the meeting debating how to manage the project. One member advocating for hiring a project manager described that role as consolidating subcontractor bids and returning a single estimate with a contingency, saying, "If I manage that project, I would come to you and say, this is it ... this is the price with a contingency that was built into that to work within your budget." Committee members contrasted that approach with contracting a general contractor, which would typically bundle subs and include a general-contractor markup.

Selectman raised budget caution, saying the committee should not commit large sums before final figures are available: "I didn't feel that we could commit to the $300,000 to remove from unreserved fund balance to create an ETF for this purpose," the Selectman said, and suggested preparing a smaller professional-services placeholder (about $50,000) from reserves while plans are finalized.

Members also reviewed procurement constraints tied to a town warrant article and past litigation over bidding procedures. The Selectman said the warrant-article language (from earlier town votes) had led to legal challenges in the past and urged the committee to follow the article's intent when soliciting bids and notices. Committee members discussed using the construction-industry "construction summary" listings and targeted solicitations in addition to any required public notices.

On design specifics, committee participants agreed to stop relying on the initial, out-of-date drawings distributed at the meeting and to produce new, dimensioned plans before the next session. The committee settled on renovating the current fire station footprint while building a standalone apparatus bay and an attached or nearby meeting/addition space; members discussed phasing so operations could continue during construction and debated details such as gable-end vehicle egress, a secured sally-port for evidence handling and residential-style sprinklers and a 400-gallon water reservoir for small bunk rooms.

The committee asked staff and volunteers to produce revised drawings with dimensions and to prepare an RFP or scope for a project manager so estimates can be consolidated for the board and bond hearing process. The meeting ended after the Chair accepted a motion to adjourn; the session closed at 07:12.

The committee recorded two formal, on-the-record actions during the meeting: the acceptance of the prior meeting's minutes and the motion to adjourn.