Study: Fire station needed

By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer

CASCO — A study of the current status and possible future of the Casco Fire Department was unveiled last week.

A brand new fire station was among the directions that were explored as part of the study. In fact, the buildnew scenario is what was recommended.

During the Casco Board of Selectmen meeting on April 18, copies of the 27-page fire department feasibility study were stacked on the table for the public to take.

The study is more than a year in the making.

In January 2022, voters at Special Town Meeting approved the cost of less than $35,000 for the study to be done. Port City Architecture, based in Portland, is the company that completed the report.

The document provided an explanation of what the study was trying to accomplish: “The purpose of the study is to analyze the current staffing and apparatus, analyze call volumes and call locations, examine the current facilities, assess the department’s current and future space needs required to provide safe and efficient modern firefighting and rescue services to the community and recommend the best and most cost-effective facility improvements.”

Fire Chief Brian Cole encouraged people to read the entire study as it is very thorough and jam-packed with information.

He addressed the recom- mended course of action:

Building new on existing property and allowing public works to take over the old fire barn

“The cost of new construction is intimidating,” he began. “We would have to basically double the size of our station. That being said, this [the fire station] is a 50-year building.

Construction costs for a turnkey fire station, we are talking $8 to $10 million. That is a lot of money. I am nervous to have the number out there.”

The age of the fire barn coupled with the lack of space in the building, and the chaos and expense of remodeling the station — all are reasons Cole leaned toward the build new concept. Additionally, a budding public works department could use the existing fire station since it has the bays for plow trucks and other vehicles, he said.

“They went thoroughly over everything we need to change to bring it up to code,” he said. “We talked about remodeling. They [contractors] would have to take apart what is existing. To me, it doesn’t make sense for us to do that. Part of the goal was [to transition to] public works. It makes more sense to retro that to develop the public works department.”

The study stated that renovations were just as costly as building new.

“Due to the required code upgrades, the total project costs for an addition/renovation scenario would be close to, if not equal to, the same

By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer

NAPLES — The future temporary town manager of Naples has been officially hired.

On Monday, the Naples Board of Selectmen hired William “Bill” Giroux to step in as interim town manager, effective at the end of the business day on May 12.

Giroux will also be the acting town treasurer and road commissioner — two roles of the town manager.

Previously, the board chose Giroux among retired town managers who, through the Maine Municipal Association (MMA), fill the gap while a town is trying to hire a full-time town manager. Naples Town Manager John Hawley gave his 60-day notice in his letter of resignation which was dated March 10.

In another recent change of staff, the Administrative Assistant Paula Miller also resigned after accepting a job with the City of Portland. Her last day was this week.

In related business, the selectmen had a discussion about altering the town’s communication policy to not require minutes of meetings since 1.) That information is already recorded in the video of each meeting, and 2.) Staff is short-handed and