Selectmen Divert Fire Truck Funds to Pellana Road Sewer-June 8, 1978

Board Votes 3-1 to Sacrifice Apparatus Upgrades to Resolve Cellar Flooding Crisis

Fire apparatus sacrificed for sewer pumping station

The vote was 3-1 to make it a choice that the $141,000 new fire equipment budget as approved by the finance commission be reduced by the cost of the pumping station. Selectman Walter J. Dempsey said the choice of priorities was simple enough: getting rid of sewage in the cellar or new fire apparatus which, he felt, could go another year.

While Dempsey made it a question of choice for tax reasons, Selectman Joseph F. Curran was not so sure it had to be a choice. At least, he confessed some worry about not backing the program for new and rehabilitated fire apparatus and vehicles this year. Last week, selectmen voted unanimously to ask the town meeting later this month to fund construction of a new pumping station at Pellana Road and Sixth Street to relieve long-standing problems in the area with sewer water backup. The vote was tied to looking to make an equivalent cut from other 1978-79 budget items.

Town Manager John P. Mogan asked selectmen how the Pellana Road funding could be offset since he could not possibly make $110,000 worth of deletions without severely restricting other budgets. The $141,000 FinCom recommendation, more generous in dollars than Fire Chief Capeless or selectmen asked for, calls for one new engine, rehabilitation of two other pieces of apparatus and purchase of an inspection car and a four-wheel vehicle. Capeless preferred rehabilitating an engine and ladder truck as better for department needs.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger