Effingham committee weighs grant strategy and designs for fire, police and municipal buildings

The Effingham municipal building committee discussed options for renovating and building municipal, fire and police facilities and agreed to pursue outside grant-writing help while keeping town funding as a backup. The meeting concluded at 6:42 p.m.

Chair (speaker 2) told members that the only contractor estimates received so far were from PATCO and cited a fire department estimate of $745,690; the transcript contained a garbled figure for the police/municipal estimate that participants said needed correction. "So those are the only estimates we have right now," the Chair said during the review.

Members spent much of the meeting debating whether to design for a town-funded project now or to prepare two design tracks so they can seek grant funding that may require a different scope. "He can pull the narrative that won last time and take your information and plug it into that narrative template," said the staff member (speaker 6), describing the work a contracted grant writer would do.

Committee member (speaker 7) cited a past example in which an organization obtained a dedicated endowment and "we got $300,000" to fund an elevator for an older facility, arguing that the town should "dive into areas where we can get money" from foundations and federal programs.

The committee discussed timelines and costs for grant-driven versus town-funded designs. Members noted some grants only fund new construction while others permit rehabilitation, which could require the committee to maintain a town-funded design as a fallback. The staff member said a grant writer could identify and submit opportunities quickly; if the contractor helps submit several applications, one award could cover the contractor’s fee.

Committee members also reviewed layout and size options for an apparatus building and adjacent municipal space. Dimensions discussed included 30-by-60 and 40-by-60 footprints, and members debated construction materials (steel frame versus wood) and the impact of tying new work into existing septic and occupancy constraints.

Chair (speaker 2) said about $300,000 from a recent auction will be placed in a separate fund earmarked for municipal buildings and could serve as match or seed money for designs and grant work.

Early in the meeting, committee member (speaker 3) moved to accept the minutes; the motion was seconded (speaker 5) and approved by voice vote. The meeting ended after a final round of comments and a motion to adjourn; members left with agreed next steps to refine sketches and bring updated plans and a second contractor estimate to the next meeting.

Next steps: committee members directed staff to produce updated sketches, collect a second set of contractor estimates, and return with a draft contract or price for a professional grant writer at the next meeting.