ATHOL – The old downtown fire station was on the Selectboard’s minds at the Jan. 3 meeting, when Town Manager Shaun Suhoski asked members to weigh potential options for the future of the aging structure.

“The old firehouse downtown is continuing to deteriorate,” he told the board. “We’ve had to patch the roof once; there’s still issues with the roof. Pigeons are living throughout. The masonry – the mortar – is failing in certain areas.

“With the new budget season coming upon us – whether it’s a capital request for demolitions funds, whether it’s a line item for an asbestos review – what are we going to do with that fire station? I’m not asking for a vote. I just want to initiate a discussion and get it out there in the public. But we need to do something with that building.”

Suhoski noted that the Athol Firefighter’s Association currently stores some apparatuses in the building, but added the organization has said it can find another place for those items.

“There’s just miscellaneous storage items left in there,” he continued. “The place is really not in good condition. It’s not helping the neighborhood, it’s not helping the town, and it’s just going to get worse and worse.”

The town manager then presented the board with some options.

“The town may want to keep it for future municipal use. Neither of the chiefs (fire or police) have expressed an interest in it,” Suhoski said. “The building isn’t big enough and the lot isn’t big enough for a new fire station, which we’ve been talking about. It can’t fit there. So that’s not going to help us. And I don’t see it, even administratively, any use for that space that would be cost beneficial to the town.”

Suhoski said it might be possible to put together a proposal for the Town Meeting in June—asking voters to give the town permission to seek outside proposals for the building, either from private interests or non-profit organizations. Depending on the assessed value of the property, the town may or may not have to follow state law for disposing of the station. Similar steps were taken in 2016 for the disposition of the town’s four former elementary schools.

“One (of the schools) is in the private sector, one’s being used by a non-profit, and the others are the subject of a $28 million proposed renovation,” said Suhoski. “So, that’s something we can set up for the Annual Town Meeting in June. Nothing I’ve heard internally would require a Special Town Meeting before that to get that authorization.”

The town manager then explained that if the property is valued at more than $35,000, it is subject to state law 30B for disposition. This law pertains to “every contract for the procurement of supplies, services or real property and for disposing of supplies or real property by a governmental body as defined herein.”

“We need Town Meeting approval anyway,” he said, “But if it’s $35,000 or more then we have to follow the formal procurement. We could either do that through a Request For Proposals (RFP) – that’s what we did with Ellen Bigelow and Riverbend (schools) – or we can authorize a sale for the best price, like we did with Sanders Street.”

Suohski said he fears that placing a lot of restrictions in an RFP would “chill the response to it.” He also noted that zoning will limit what the property may be used for. The best course, in his opinion, appears to be bidding the site for the best price and divesting the town of the property.

“In the interim, the building commissioner suggested that we do get an asbestos survey and maybe seek a quote for demolition just in case we end up having to demolish it,” he said.

In response to an inquiry from board Vice Chair Rebecca Bialecki, Suhoski said the town could, prior to Town Meeting, issue an RFP for any entity possibly interested in a short-term lease. Anyone leasing the property would need to be informed that the long-term plan of the town is to sell it.

Board member Kala Fisher feared a short-term lease for a building in a state of deterioration could create a major liability issue. Bialecki responded that, similar to the lease that LaunchSpace has for the former Pleasant Street School, both the town and lessee would be required to carry liability insurance.

“What I’d like to do,” Suhoski interjected, “is to speak with the building commissioner, and if there is no certificate of occupancy that can be issued, then maybe it’s moot.”

The board instructed Suhoski to gather additional information to present at a meeting in the near future so that its members could better determine which course to take relative to the disposal of the property.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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