SOUTHAMPTON — Acting on the recommendation from the committee overseeing a new Public Safety Complex project, the Select Board on Monday gave Town Administrator Scott Szczebak the go-ahead to start exploring options to pursue a phased approach that would involve building a fire station first followed by a police station years later.
The proposed $28 million joint building for the Fire and Police Departments has been hotly debated among residents and local officials. The consensus among all is the project is crucial and necessary, as the current fire and police stations are housed in more than century-old buildings. However, many residents question the project’s steep price tag and what it would do to their property taxes long-term.
“In my heart I think it’s more likely to make it through the voters by separating it and doing a staged plan,” Szczebak said at the Select Board meeting Monday night.
The Public Safety Building Committee reached its conclusion to reevaluate the project at an Oct. 20 meeting, using information from a feasibility study coupled with input from the public. Seven of the nine members voted in favor of recommending the phased approach, with those in favor still voicing concern about the move.
“I think my fear … is just that we will never get around to really doing the police station, that’s my biggest fear,” said Select Board Chair Christine Fowles, who is a committee member.
The town contracted with HKT Architects of Charlestown in 2023 to create the feasibility study and design, and had a separate study done before that. The original project cost was $39 million for a roughly 26,000-square-foot building. Later on, the committee requested a redesign that cut the cost to the current $28 million estimate and the size of the building to 21,000 square feet.
While Fowles voted in favor of the phased approach, she wants to commit to a project that builds both stations at once. She said knowing the history of Southampton, if the fire station is built first, the police station might get left behind.
Committee co-chair Kristina Madsen, one of two members to vote against the phasing idea, saying that the town needs to build new stations for both departments.
“I believe we have a civic responsibility to get this building built,” Madsen said. “I just think it’s the wrong choice to go with the fire house move. As a taxpayer, I can’t support it.”
The other co-chair of the committee, Police Chief Ian Illingsworth, said he agrees with both sides. He said a phased approach would not be the most cost efficient in the long term, but the fire station is the most pressing concern giving the building’s poor conditions.
“The old Town Hall is not meant to be a police department, it’s not designed for a police department …,” he said. “I do see however that the fire department is in such despair.”
The current fire station is built out of a schoolhouse constructed in 1863 and the current police station operates out of the former town hall building, constructed in 1904.
Illingsworth believes that voters will continue to reject the project as currently designed.
At the annual Town Meeting in May, a ballot question requesting a $3.2 million debt exclusion for the public safety complex failed by a wide margin of 1,390 against to 518 in favor. This would have been the stepping stone to support the rest of the project cost.
Next steps
Select Board member Jon Lumbra feels they need to reevaluate if this is truly a priority of the town.
“We need the five-year forecasting, we need the capital plan. This is not the only issue in town that needs to be addressed,” Lumbra said at the Oct. 28 meeting. “And to keep putting these issues up as a solo project, we’re just going to keep repeating the same thing.”
He said “after the last votes” from the Town Meeting, it doesn’t seem like this is a priority to residents.
Similarly, Select Board member Stephen Thor Johnson said there needs to be more planning. He has been an advocate for the public safety complex and master planning of the 52-acre area where the building would be construction. That site is conceptually planned to also include affordable housing, a new senior center, parking and provide connection to the future Southampton Greenway.
“When you add up all of these public use benefits and coordinate them, you’ve got much more than the sum of the parts,” Johnson said. “What unlocks this? Careful planning that allows phasing and development of each and any of those uses more or less independent of the other.”
“I think we at this point, we have heard clearly from the voters and from federal government and the economy in general, we need to get our operating account under control,” Johnson said.
Johnson and Fowles both mentioned the midyear increases from the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust that increased the town’s insurance costs by roughly $550,000. He said this was unexpected and could not be planned for, but hopes to start a broader capital plan.
The town is preparing a capital plan with an anticipated release for December which includes mid-priced projects such as a fire truck or infrastructure upgrades. That plan will not include large capital projects such as the public safety building.
Public input
“I’m entirely against the project at the cost they’re proposing,” resident Martha Issod told the Gazette. “I feel that we do need the public safety complex, absolutely.”
Issod previously served on the town council of a rural New Jersey town. She said the town nearly went bankrupt after purchasing open space, leading to a large debt. This resulted in a 30% tax increase for residents.
“Southampton’s changing and many feel the strain of higher property taxes, new fees and rising costs,” she said at the Oct. 28 meeting. “Recently the town purchased 52 acres for a public safety complex and other community uses. With around two and a half million in outstanding debt we should reexamine what’s practical and consider selling the unused portion to reduce cost and bring in new commercial rateables.”
Issod looked back to how the original feasibility study was made. She feels one of the issues is that the fire and police chiefs were asked to include their desired components to the new complex, such as space needs and various rooms.
“They did not set financial parameters for the feasibility study,” Issod said.
She said when creating the needs assessment, the town went to the departments and asked for a “wish list” of what they would want included.
Additionally, Issod is worried that on top of the public safety complex, the town is also eyeing another large capital project, a new senior center. She wants to see the town implement a full five- to 10-year capital plan to create stability and feels there is a lack of transparency with the project.
At the Oct. 28 meeting resident Bruce Bowman expressed support for committee and feels there can’t be an “artificial cap” placed on it before the needs are assessed. “Hopefully the building committee can continue possibly with a new charge, they’ve put in a lot of work and it’s something that the town needs.”
Resident Brad Towle is worried about the price and the taxes that will come.
“We’re not a great community for business, we don’t have many businesses … Which means everything that we get here comes back to the taxpayers,” he said.
In an interview with the Gazette, Szczebak said the feasibility study is well informed having looked at dozens of others for public safety complexes in the state to compare. He said they are not just “throwing darts at a dart board” when picking what to include.
Some of those towns include Warren, estimated at $30 million with a population of 4,975, Lenox at $25 million with a population of 5,095 and Lee at $37 million with a population of 5,788.
The estimation scale the town has been following is roughly $1 million for every 1,000 square feet of the complex.
Many residents have compared it to Westhampton’s recently built complex that cost roughly $5 million. Szczebak said that complex would not support a town like Southampton, which has a much larger population.
“I trust Ian (Illingsworth) and I trust Rich (Fasoli) that they’re not going to go with more than what they need because they’re residents of this town too,” he said.