About two dozen voters gathered at the new Onset Fire Station on Monday night, where they quickly approved all the items on the agenda at the district’s annual meeting.

Among a number of routine items was one project voters were particularly interested in: Authorization to borrow $7.5 million to replace the standpipe located at Bay Pointe and to add an additional elevated water storage tank. Water Superintendent Dave Candeias said that tank would be located somewhere on the village side of the Stone and Dummy Bridges, but not in the immediate downtown area. That second pipe would improve water pressure for firefighting and would provide a back-up water source for the village in case infrastructure is severely damaged in a natural disaster.

The existing standpipe on Bay Pointe was built in 1934, Candeias said. He said a study predicted that the pipe would be at risk of critical failure in 2018. 

Candeias said that the district is doing everything it can to bring the price down. He added that the district is well-positioned to apply for grants as the voters have approved borrowing to cover the rest of the cost, and the district is low-income, majority-minority and environmentally disadvantaged.
Voters also gave the district permission to lease, sell or rent one of the parcels of land that made up its old headquarters on E. Central Avenue. Voters had signed off on allowing the district to dispose of its location last year, but not all the parcels of land were included in that motion. 

“It would be sold as-is as a commercial property, if it were to sell,” said Prudential Committee Chair Pamela Pike.

An update to the district’s bylaws was approved. The prudential committee’s attorney explained that the changes to the bylaw shift responsibility for certain tasks — such as control of fire apparatus — from the board of engineers to the chief engineer. 

Pike said that there was some ambiguity after a previous change to the bylaw that expanded the chief’s authority. That change wasn’t reflected uniformly throughout the bylaws.

The district’s election will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Onset VFW on Tuesday, May 17. On the ballot are a three-year seat on the Prudential Committee, one three-year term and one two-year term on the Water Commission, and one one-year term as moderator.