Lee Gets $1M Earmark for Public Safety Complex
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| The proposed 37,661-square-foot building combines the Lee police and fire departments as well as the building safety department. |
LEE, Mass.—The federal government earmarked $1 million bolstering the effort to replace the town's proposed new public safety complex.
On Wednesday, Congressman Richard Neal touted the allocation of Congressionally Direct Spending from the U.S. Department of Agriculture at town hall.
"The President of the United States, Joe Biden, signed this legislation that included your request for $1 million," he said.
"And we're also reminded, I think, on occasions like this, the role of police and fire in everyday lives. They're very popular in the community as advocates for all of us."
As a former mayor, Neal recognized the importance of emergency services in residents' day-to-day lives. He added that great decisions are made in the town every day and this funding was a great decision on the government's part.
He said that his friendship with State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, whose family is committed to public service, inspired him to seek the additional funding.
The proposed 37,661-square-foot building combines the Lee police and fire departments as well as the building safety department. The site's existing buildings at the corner of Railroad Street and Frank P. Consolati Way will be demolished to make way for the complex.
Last year, voters endorsed nearly $37 million in borrowing, which included the purchase of property and relocating the Department of Public Works, during a special town meeting. The facility's cost is estimated to fall below $35 million and ground will be broken this winter.
Town Administrator Christopher Brittain remembers discussing the need with Lee's police and fire chiefs over two years ago. The fire station, built in 1912, was found to be structurally unsound and inadequate to support modern-day equipment and the 1,600 square-foot police department falls significantly short of the 10,960 square feet of space that is required to accommodate the force.
"We discussed that our fire station was literally designed for horse-drawn equipment, our EMS building is held together right now by emergency supports, and we have a police station that's over 100 years old and about half the size of what we need for our for our current police officers," Brittain explained.
"At that time, it seemed like an impossible task to address all these issues but now two years later, we have approval from the town residents, we have property acquired for the project, a project manager and architect have been hired, and demolition should be starting this winter."
He pointed out that this project will create a new facility for first responders, move the public works department to a newer and better facility, create additional community space, and revitalize a blighted section of downtown.
"For a small town like Lee, a project of this magnitude takes support from the entire community, as well as partners at the state and national level," he added.
Select Board Chair Gordon Bailey did some calculations and found that this million dollars will save taxpayers an additional $600,000 in interest that won't need to be paid.
"I think one thing people forget is there's interest over those 25 years on that million dollars we don't have to pay so what this really amounts to is about $1,600,000 in relief for our townspeople and I think people need to keep that in mind. It's not just the $1 million that we got but there's more that we're getting out of this," he said, pointing out that moving the building officials to the complex will also get them out of cramped quarters.
Officials feel that regionalization efforts will provide better emergency services and faster response times for constituents. The project will include a personnel training tower and revitalize an underused area in the town.
Under guidelines issued by the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, members of Congress requested CDS funding for projects in their state for Fiscal Year 2024. CDS requests were restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams, and only state and local governments, and eligible non-profit entities, were permitted to receive CDS funding.
This project is one of thirteen CDS projects submitted by Congressman Neal, totaling nearly $15 million in investments throughout the First Congressional District of Massachusetts.
Tags: fire station, Neal, police station,
