In an effort to push forward Edgartown’s fire station reconstruction, town officials have decided to lower the quorum for the upcoming special town meeting.
Edgartown voters will gather at the Old Whaling Church on Dec. 9 for the town’s first special town meeting since 2017. The meeting begins at 7 pm, and the warrant can be found at bit.ly/EDG_SpecialWarrant.
The Edgartown Select Board approved the warrant at a Nov. 24 meeting. The board also reduced the quorum requirement from 218 registered voters to 40, to avoid voter turnout problems.
“We’ve had trouble every year in the regular April town meeting, and unfortunately we had to start 25 to 30 minutes late, and we haven’t had a special town meeting since 2017,” said Edgartown Town Administrator James Hagerty. “We just hope for a good turnout; the quorum is lowered, but we are still hoping 218 people show up.”
The most notable article in the warrant is a request to release additional funds to keep the long-planned rebuild of the Edgartown Fire Department’s station on track. Article 13 will ask voters to either approve the allocation of an additional $2.5 million from free cash to finish the project or reduce the scope of the rebuild on the station, which was built in 1966.
Edgartown voters approved the fire station project in 2023, with estimates that the project would cost approximately $21.5 million for a total rebuild on the same property at 68 Peases Point Way, but recent construction bids came in well above the 2022 estimates due to inflation of material costs. Demolition of the existing station, originally scheduled for last month, is now on hold.
“The original quotes that we were thankfully approved for by the town were estimated in the fall of 2022. Material costs have been in constant flux since that time frame,” said Edgartown Fire Chief Alex Schaeffer. “What it comes down to is the bids are coming back higher than what we anticipated.”
The station was flagged by a feasibility study in 2016 for 12 deficiencies, including outdated and undersize infrastructure. It also lacked space for modern equipment, such as contaminant extractors used to clean carcinogens off gear after dealing with a fire, and new ambulances and fire trucks.
“The size of and amount of equipment that we have is far beyond anything thought of in 1966,” said Schaeffer.
At the meeting on Monday, Hagerty noted that every spending article on the warrant is funded through free cash, meaning approval of any or all items will have no impact on the tax rate.
Other notable free-cash requests include Article 5, which requests $65,095 for opioid settlement funds; Article 6, which asks for $47,229 for police station security upgrades; and Article 10, which is requesting $45,000 for additional Edgartown School playground improvements. Additionally, Article 4 requests permission to use the Edgartown Landfill, located at 49 Meshaket Road, as a site for solar energy projects.
