Barre Select Board votes to form fire station building committee

BARRE -- August 19, 2019, Barre Select Board takes first formal step toward replacing fire stations last studied in 2002. The three-member board, Chair Dr. Maureen Marshall, Vice Chair Mark Regienus, and Clerk Richard Stevens, voted unanimously Monday to direct Town Administrator Andrew to draft a charge for a new fire station building committee, with a feasibility study to be funded from free cash at the next annual town meeting. A 2002 study put Station 1 at roughly $3.7 million and Station 2 at $1.7 million; escalated at 3 percent annually, those figures stand at approximately $5.6 million and $3.1 million today. Regienus, an on-call firefighter, recused himself from fire-related votes, citing ethics rules, telling the board: "If the public could have a perception that I may get some benefit from the chief because of my active participation in the pursuit of a new facility, that's a violation of the ethics." The board also accepted an amended EMS agreement with New Braintree raising the annual base payment from $10,000 to $15,000, with Regienus abstaining, and approved a special event permit for the Joe's Journey for Recovery 5K on September 14.