Wareham Fire District Meeting to be held April 11

Apr 6, 2022

Attachments

Residents of the Wareham Fire District will be asked to approve a $7.8 million budget, rehabilitation of the water district’s largest water storage tanks, improvements to communication systems and union contracts at the district’s Annual Meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 11, at the Wareham High School gym. 

The district’s election will be held Saturday, April 16.

The most expensive item up for a vote is a request for $2.3 million to rehabilitate and paint the town’s largest water storage tanks: the standpipes at Bourne Hill and in West Wareham. According to the district, those tanks were last restored more than 20 years ago. The tanks need to be upgraded to maintain sanitary conditions, with necessary work including encapsulation and rehabilitation of each tank.

“The standpipe painting came in better than expected,” said George Barrett, noting that the district will be able to pay for the project with available funds rather than borrowing. 

The district is requesting $226,000 to upgrade its communication systems at its Main Street station, replace communications equipment at its towers and add a back-up dispatch center at 2368 Cranberry Highway in West Wareham. The district’s current dispatch area is original to the 1961 station, the warrant explains, and the dispatch console is no longer supported by Motorola. The communications equipment at the district’s towers is 20 years old and reportedly beginning to fail.

One item asks voters to support the district’s portion of a potential grant-funded effort to install fiber-optic cables in dedicated lines for communication between the Wareham Fire District, Wareham Police and Emergency Medical Services. The district would contribute $6,250, which would match 5% of a $250,000 state grant, if the grant is awarded.

“The system we have isn’t quite big enough for our needs, so we’re doing a dedicated system for public safety,” Barrett said. “It’s just giving us the capacity that we’re going to need to communicate in-house and beyond.”

Another item would spend $40,000 to upgrade radio boxes that are no longer supported by the company the district uses.

Another communications-related item would spend $4,000 on upgrading the district’s office phone system.

The district will ask voters to spend grant funds and excess funds from completed projects to purchase two new trucks, both with plowing capability: One pick-up truck and one dump truck.

Voters will be asked to spend $45,000 on ballistic protection for firefighters. The career firefighters have ballistic vests, but the ballistic panels need to be replaced, and call firefighters will be purchased new ballistic vests.

“It’s part of the gear, whether you’re responding to an overdose — it’s just the state of the world these days,” Barrett said. 

Three district leadership seats will be up for votes at the district’s election, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 16, at the district’s 2550 Cranberry Highway headquarters. Incumbents George Barrett and Dean Decas are up for reelection to the Prudential Committee, and both are running unopposed. Jay Tamagini will be running for reelection to his Water Commission seat, and is also unopposed.