LONGMEADOW – Voters will consider funding $200,000 of design work for a potential new Adult Center at Bliss Park and a new $530,000 fire engine during the Oct. 25 Special Town Meeting after the Select Board approved all articles on the warrant at its Oct. 3 meeting.

Town Manager Stephen Crane later told Reminder Publications the article for the Adult Center design work was approved 4 to 1. The only member of the board to vote against the article was Select Board Vice Chair Mark Gold.

Crane noted the board also included amendments to the article, including conducting a traffic study as part of the continued design work and a change to the wording of the article that states the appropriation would focus on Bliss Park as the project’s site location.

He stated prior to the meeting $30,000 of previously appropriated funds would also be utilized for the design work if voters approve the article.

The Adult Center Building Committee previously recommended appropriating $250,000 for the article.  

“As town manager, I do believe the Adult Center Building Committee engaged in a thorough process and that whether or not anyone out there individually agrees with the timing of the project or the proposed location, my view was [to] at least give the town the opportunity to review and consider the recommendation of the committee. That’s basically what I’ve asked the Select Board to do,” Crane said.

The Select Board also unanimously approved the article calling to appropriate $530,000 to replace the Fire Department’s 25-year-old Engine No. 2.

Crane said prior to the meeting the fire engine would cost approximately $650,000, but the department has about $124,000 in its truck account at this time, which would be added to the appropriation. The department has also applied for several grants to help supplement the cost of the vehicle.

Fire Chief John Dearborn said prior to the meeting his department needs to replace the fire engine due to problems that have occurred with it during the past six months. At this point it’s nearing the end of its useful life.

“We’re having repeated mechanical failures with it,” he explained. “It’s a challenge to keep it serviceable and safe to operate. In the past six months, I think the problems have accelerated. We have a very intensive maintenance program. We’re very proud of our maintenance program. It’s reasonable to get 25 years out of these vehicles. The national standard is 15 years for these vehicles.”

Dearborn listed the department’s fire vehicles, which includes Fire Engines No. 1, No. 2, and its Ladder No. 1, a Quint fire engine with ladder capabilities, which was first used by the department in August 2015 and purchased for $750,000.

He added Engine No. 2 is a firefighting and rescue vehicle and is equipped with the Jaws of Life and other extraction equipment to rescue people trapped in motor vehicles. Engine No. 1 is a public safety vehicle that was purchased by the department in 2004.

The next engine replacement would likely happen in the next 10 to 12 years, Dearborn said.

Engine No. 2 needs to be replaced not long after Engine No. 3 was replaced with the Quint Truck because the town purchased both vehicles around the same time in the early 1990s, Crane said. In the next 25 years, Longmeadow would continue this pattern.

Dearborn said it would take a year for the new fire engine to arrive in Longmeadow after funds are appropriated.

“There certainly could be a point where it’s not cost effective [to continuing using the existing Engine No. 2],” he explained. “So, we might have to at some point rely on mutual aid. We may have to look at either leasing or borrowing an engine. Hopefully, we’re not going to get to those points.”