Greetings to the citizens of Litchfield.

 (Litchfield, Bantam, East Litchfield, and Northfield)

Today I would like to ask you all to read this article in order to understand what the true issues are for the Northfield Volunteer Fire House Construction Project. There have recently been many stories and articles in the papers which may or may not tell the whole story about what the important issues are and how do we solve them? I would like to ask you for your time to read this and then make a determination whether the project is on track or not.

The Northfield Volunteer Fire Company began this project 15 years ago when we were faced with a structure that was old and structurally unsound. It was unfit for community use and did not meet the codes (NFPA, ADA and OSHA) which the fire company has to abide by. The structure was condemned for use by the fire marshal due to many defects being seen due to the age of the building. A study of the fire service in town (The Eckman Study) brought to light the firehouse either needed to be brought up to current codes (at a cost of $2.5 Million – over 6 years ago) or a new firehouse was needed. The new firehouse would be more cost effective and a longer life use would be seen. The department formed a committee to get the building blocks for the new station situated for an architect and see what the cost of the structure would be. The fire company was given $1 Million Dollars in a bond (from the Town) to begin the process to build the new firehouse. A committee was appointed by the town at a town meeting, including 2 current selectmen, two past selectmen, a builder, a lay person, and several members of the fire company. The Committee Members are business people, a retired banker, builder, and an engineer. All of these people worked with the architect to determine what rooms were essential in the delivery of the fire company’s services of Fire Protection, Rescue, and Emergency Medical Response, and along with that, the creation of a shelter (Community Room) which would be used during times of need for the Litchfield residents. Currently there is only one true shelter in town, that being the Wisdom House. All of the required spaces were laid out into a design for the new building by the architect. The original design included a basement but it was removed as a cost cutting effort by the Building Committee.  

The design of a Firehouse is far different than building a common residential home. The rule book for the firehouse construction is almost 8 times as thick as the residential construction rules. The no frills design of a firehouse has to incorporate the following areas into its structure to provide for the compliance of all Public Building Codes including ADA, NFPA and OSHA rules and regulations to provide for safe operation of a fire company: An apparatus Bay for each Fire Truck, an SCBA Room for refilling of the Air Packs by a special high pressure compressor, a decontamination room for cleaning up contaminated fire and medical gear, an electrical room to house all switch gear and panels for the firehouse electrical system, a furnace room with monitored air intakes for proper air makeup for public gatherings, a radio communications room, a day room for stand-by operations, lockable offices for the officers and Chief Officer, a Record Storage Area for HIPPA related documents, a training room for ongoing training classes and recertification for firefighters and EMT’s, shower rooms for males and females for decontamination, off street parking for responding firefighters, a room to house all extra fire gear.  The shelter comprises half of the first floor, and includes a kitchen facility and pantry. There is ample space for handicap parking and a generator which will run the building for a week without refueling, which was paid for by a grant from the federal government.    

After the project was bid out the costs which came back were high. Little did anyone know what the economy had plans on doing right after that. The costs of steel, construction materials, fuel, and labor went sky high. We re-bid the design with the basement removed and addendums to add / delete different portions of the structure in order to keep costs down. We removed the basement, and other areas of the structure were re-designed to save money. We were able to cut the costs by some $353,000.00 by value engineering the project, but the price still came in at $2,597,000.00 which is when we went to the town to ask for more funds. After our first $1 Million Dollars was bonded, the financial officer for the town had given us a letter which stated to come back to the town if more funding was needed to complete the fire station.  We requested another $700,000.00 from the town in order to get enough money together to sign a contract to begin the construction of the firehouse. The town gave us the funds after it was passed by a town vote. The current administration had felt the correct thing to do was build the firehouse with the money we had and as we received grants, we could finish off portions of the structure after getting more grants in hand. We had written many grants to the State of Ct., U.S. Federal Government and Local Charities and we waited for them to come in after being accepted. We had received word on acceptance of grants totaling $822,000.00. Unfortunately the way this structure is designed, we could not just add on one room at a time. Also it is easier to get grants for existing rooms even though they are not finished. We had a Community Room and a second floor which was included in the plans which was cheaper to build than the full basement. To change it again and redesign would now take more time, more money and we were being pressured to begin the project or loose our first $1 Million dollar bond and hurt the town’s bond ratings. So we broke ground in December 2005 and began the project.  

We signed a contract with LaRosa Construction, who was low bidder for the project. Our total contract amount was $2,597,000.00 which would have given us a building which would be complete on the First Floor, including the Community Room, a working kitchen, bathrooms, shower / locker facilities, a communications room, and a day room for the crews on stand-by for calls. It would also cover the costs for the apparatus bays, mechanical and electrical rooms, an equipment decontamination room, and a pantry room off the kitchen. The second floor was going to be left unfinished for the time being. The upper parking facility and all sidewalks and stairs were included in the package.  

The problem we faced was the firehouse building project was not being funded like the school project, where bonded money was used to allow the building committee to sign up front for the whole project. We had to sign for what money we had in our account at the time of the contract signing and wait for more grant money to come in before signing for more work to be done on the project. We had roughly $2,322,000.00 with the grants we submitted for, including town funding of $1,700,000.00 bonded for us. Several grants were still pending which would bring the total amount of the money equal to the contract amount. We removed some of the finishes and materials which were not going to be installed until the end of the project to bring down the total signed from $2,597,000.00 to $2,266,000.00 which gave us a little leeway for having enough money to start the project. We did not have a lot of money in Contingency due to the nature of our funding. If the project was bonded by the town originally, the Building Committee could have signed for the total package and locked in the costs of labor and materials.   

The amount we signed for in November 2005 includes the completed structure shell including all of the windows, all of the exterior doors except the garage doors, which would give us a weather-tight shell of the building. All of the interior walls framed out, all of the heating systems minus the thermostats and vent diffusers in the individual rooms, all of the plumbing including the well, and all fixtures (sinks, showers, hose hook-ups, toilets, and other fixtures) all of the compressed air system for the entire building, all of the air conditioning systems, a full electrical system minus the light fixtures, wiring up of a transfer switch for the building for the generator system we received through a grant from the federal government, electrical hookup from the power lines to the building including a transformer and pad, a full communications wire package installed for the communications room, and all interior doors and frames. The Upper Parking Area would be ready to receive pavement and the rear parking area would have processed gravel on it. This brings the total project to about 83% complete after all of the work signed for in the first contract is completed.

Because the Fire House Building Committee was being told by the First Selectman to run the project this way, we could not sign for the remainder of the project until more grant money was obtained from the State or local charities. We were told to build what you could build for the amount you have. There was never a conversation about a Certificate of Occupancy until September of 2006 when the building committee met with the Board of Selectmen to tell them of the issue of running out of available funds. The Grant Money we were to receive from the State of CT. was being processed but due to new Ethical Paperwork required from the Attorney General's Office, processing time of the Department of Social Services Grant ($387,000.00) for the Shelter portion of the firehouse was delayed. In May 2006 we received the final paperwork for the $387,000.00 grant. We (the Northfield Fire Company) processed it immediately and received the funds in October 2006. We also received word of a STEAP Grant on June 1, 2006 for $200,000.00 and as of June 2007 we have not received the funding yet or from a State grant for the parking lot ($185,000.00) from 2005. This has caused our project to be halted while the town submits its paperwork to request funding from the grants which total $385,000.00. It would seem that the paperwork should have been submitted far sooner than now so the project would not be cash strapped and in the halted state it is in currently. With this being said, the balance of the original costs for the work not yet signed for to complete the project has gone up astronomically from approximately $350,000.00 to $750,000.00 due to costs increasing in material, labor, fuel, and extended project management due to the project not being completed at the end of 2006.

The Good News is we can finish this project with a finance package from the Federal Government – Department of Agriculture - Rural Development Loan. This loan is currently at 4.1% and would allow the Fire Company to take the loan for 40 years, thus stretching the cost out over that time period to the taxpayers who will be using and benefiting from this structure. This is not a new method of financing for the town. We are currently paying the same type loan on the Bantam Firehouse which was constructed approximately 15 years ago. The Bantam Fire Company receives a yearly payment from the town to pay their loan on their fire house. It allowed them to build a needed fire station in Bantam, but spread the cost of it out as not to squeeze the towns' budget. The best part of the loan is that it can be pre-paid without a penalty. This would allow us to pay down the loan if we were to receive grants in the future for the fire station. Other projects in town are using the same type of financing in which the whole town pays for and benefits from. Over the long haul, it actually saves the town money even though we pay interest on the loan.

The total cost to each person in our town would be around $5.00 per year. The average cost to a family of three would be $15.00 per year. It is a low impact way to provide Fire Services, Medical Services and Community services  for the town of Litchfield in the Northfield District. Please Support the Full Completion of the Fire House in Northfield. 

Thomas Butwell

Deputy Chief and

Building Committee Chairman

Northfield Firehouse Project

(Tom Butwell has been a Firefighter and EMT since 1977. He has a Bachelors Degree in Electro-Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelors Degree in Fire Science / Management. He and his family have resided in Litchfield - since 1987)