The Wareham Fire District held its annual meeting on April 11, and about 40 voters passed the entire warrant within a half hour's time. 

The most expensive item up for a vote was 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 district also requested $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.

Several other communications upgrades were approved, largely due to out-of-date technology.

The district asked 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.

Barrett noted that the water district had gone through old accounts and was able to use excess funds from completed projects to fund new improvements to the district. 

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.