Letter: Unethical Fire District Maneuver
 |
To the Editor:
The Williamstown Fire District recently released a "Comparison of Size of Proposed Williamstown Fire Station to Other Fire Stations" chart on their official website. The purpose of this data was to educate residents about the sizes of fire stations recently built in the region compared to what Williamstown is proposing to gain support.
During the Jan. 25, 2023, Fire District Prudential Committee meeting (recorded by willinet.org) I asked the District if they knew the information on their data chart was incorrect. For example, under the section "Station Size," the communities of Holden (36,450 square feet), Sharon (42,460 square feet), Medfield (41,022 square feet), and Plainville (43,644 square feet) are combined police/fire buildings, (in the case of Plainville, a police/fire/town hall complex), not a stand-alone fire station as suggested by the District.
District Building Committee member James Kolesar answered the question indicating the District was "indeed" aware the numbers were not accurate, stating in part, "... not meant to be overly precise or a formula, its meant to give a general sense of the size, square foot ...", I responded to Mr. Kolesar by reminding him that nowhere on the District's website does the District provide such a disclaimer.
It is remarkably disingenuous for the District to publicize false information. The District has a responsibility to the taxpayer to provide accurate information when asking them to support a $20-plus million project. Regardless of the reason, the Williamstown Fire District has obliterated its credibility.
Scott McGowan
Williamstown, Mass.
