West Tisbury is considering improvements to the town’s Public Safety Building that could include additional sleeping quarters for personnel.
Town treasurer Kathy Logue presented a recommendation from the town’s capital improvements planning committee to the select board for review on Wednesday; the recommendation is to create a working group, which could include West Tisbury Fire Chief Greg Pachico, a West Tisbury energy committee member, and others, to consider improvements. Logue said the group could help develop next steps the town could take.
The capital planning committee noted that the Public Safety Building could use repairs to the fire truck bay exhaust system, and that improvements could be made to the sleeping quarters for emergency medical technicians (EMT) and any firefighters who do not live in West Tisbury; the energy committee is also recommending adding solar panels.
“All of those things need to be dealt with, and they all affect each other, so that’s why we think it’s time to have a working group kind of work on this,” Logue said.
Installing solar panels would contribute to West Tisbury’s goal to eliminate fossil-fuel use in the town by 2040, but that would require replacing the roof. “The roof itself isn’t in bad enough shape needing to be done tomorrow, but definitely you don’t want to put solar on an old roof,” she said.
Also, there’s currently limited space for commuting firefighters or EMTs who are looking to stay overnight, in the case of a large storm or other event.
“You’re supposed to separate the sexes, have an actual bed for everybody to sleep in,” Logue said. “We don’t have that right now.”
The planning committee also recommends addressing wastewater needs.
“We’re pretty maxed out on that site, if not completely maxed out for septic,” Logue said. She said the working group could come up with next steps to addressing wastewater needs, potentially for a town meeting next fall.
Pachico said while the discussion began as a way to have out-of-town EMTs be ready if needed, other improvements could also be looked at as well, like extra office space or redoing the upstairs portion of the building. “The potential is there,” he said.
Board member Skipper Manter called the recommendation “forward-thinking.” He moved to create a committee to oversee planning. Board member Cynthia Mitchell said the committee should develop a charge for itself. “I think the charge is critical, because then you can present it to your potential builder,” she said.
After further discussion, the board unanimously approved forming the committee.
