DALTON, Mass. — Public Safety Advisory Committee members are conflicted on how to proceed with the proposed public safety facility project. 

 

With a presentation deadline looming and constraints from Select Board members, committee members struggled to agree on a path forward.

 

After an hour-long discussion on Oct. 16, members of the members reached a compromise. 

 

They agreed to have their consultant, Brian Humes of Jacunski Humes Architects LLC based in Berlin, Conn., create a rendering of both a one-story and a two-story station on a "fictitious" parcel that resembles the lot next to the Senior Center.

 

Residents need to know the projected cost and design of a police facility to make an informed decision, said co-Chair Don Davis.

 

Earlier in the meeting, however, Davis advocated for Humes to create a test fit and cost estimate on the Senior Center lot and the Main Street parcel. 

 

The motion failed, resulting in a tie with Davis and member Ryan Flanders voting for it, and co-Chair Craig Wilbur and member David Martindale voting against.

 

Martindale explained his decision stems from the Select Boards directive not to look at privately owned sites. 

 

Wilbur was concerned that Humes would not have enough time to gather the information by the committee's Dec. 31 deadline for its report to the Select Board. 

 

"We weren't asked to necessarily provide a detailed cost estimate," he said. 

 

It wouldn’t be detailed because we have no land figure. We were asked to put together something that we can present to the community, and I think that's really what's needed," Davis said. 

 

"This was the same motion I put in a couple months ago," he said, emphasizing his belief that the project has stagnated. 

 

The longer the wait, the more the project is going to cost, he added, and the committee has been asked for a long time what this project would cost and the committee can never give an assessment. 

 

The Senior Center lot, old Dalton High, is town-owned, while the Main Street parcel is private property, so the town would have to pay to procure it. 

 

The chair and vice chair of the Select Board have made it clear they do not want the facility on anything but a piece of publicly owned property, said interim Town Manager Henry "Terry" Williams.

 

"Then wouldn't it be great if those two members said that publicly and stopped letting us take the heat …because the problem is they say this in closed-door meetings and they don't say it in public meetings and this committee is the one taking the heat for it," Police Chief Deanna Strout said. 

 

Select Board member Anthony "Tony" Pagliarulo stated that despite the board leaders' request for the committee not to gather pricing for privately owned land, he personally believes it is acceptable to seek this information because the public should know. 

 

The question remains, however, does the town want to take money that could be used on the town parcel to gather information on a site that may not be used, he said. 

 

It has been demonstrated during previous meetings that utilizing town-owned land for a new facility would be the most cost-effective option, saving between $1 million to $3 million since the town would not need to purchase property.

 

The problem: The Senior Center lot is the only town-owned location with enough space to house a public safety facility. 

 

Some residents have expressed disapproval of having a police station there because of concerns, including that police will accidentally run people over. "That's not reality," Strout said. 

 

"The difficulty is … our hands are a little tied because we have Select Board members, who I haven't seen at a meeting yet, tell us that we only will let you do this on town-owned property," Strout said. 

 

"Meanwhile, our residents voted against that. So, what do we actually do … We need guidance from the Select Board as a whole."  

 

Based on feedback from community members, a majority of people want to save money and use the Senior Center location for a safety facility, the police chief said. 

 

"The town needs to look at the best interests of the community as a whole, not a small special interest group," she said. 

 

The committee also considered evaluating the property behind the Senior Center, bordering High Street, which is less conspicuous, Strout said during a previous meeting. 

 

However, during the Oct. 16 meeting, it was announced that Humes said the parcel behind the Senior Center is irregular in size and with the setbacks and right of ways is not suitable for building any sort of police department to meet the department's needs, Wilbur said. 

 

Pagliarulo questioned this determination, highlighting that the size may be adequate with zoning variances.

 

"Chapter 40 allows us to go through a process, via the town, via the Select Board, to change that and change the setbacks," he said 

 

Wilbur explained that for Humes' rendering, he has to go based on the current bylaws and zoning regulations and can’t take into consideration potential changes in the future.