NORTHBOROUGH – Conversations regarding how Northborough should spend its remaining nearly $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds grew heated at times during the Dec. 2 Select Board meeting, including an abrupt five-minute recess at one point.
Eight requests came before the board, including a request from the Northborough Fire Department to fund equipment for eight new firefighters. It was rejected by a vote of 2-3 with members Julianne Hirsh and Mike Tietjen in favor and Mitch Cohen, Laura Ziton and Lisa Maselli against.
“I’m just frustrated that we’ve gone through these motions, and we’re just hearing about this now,” said Ziton. “We’ve got ARPA funds, but this is a big expense for equipment for people that are going to be hired here. If we didn’t have this ARPA money available, we’re starting people off unable to work.”
According to a memo from Finance Director Jason Little to the Select Board, Northborough received $4,516,183.33 in ARPA funds. The Select Board has allocated funds to 52 projects, totaling $4,016,420.61. As a result, there’s a balance of $499,762.72.
Earlier this year, the Northborough Fire Department received a $2.8 million grant through FEMA’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program to allow them to hire eight new firefighters. The Select Board accepted the SAFER grant on Sept. 30; the grant does not cover equipment for the new staff members.
During the September Select Board meeting, the topic of equipment for the new firefighters was brought up. Fire Chief David Parenti said the Department of Fire Services’ equipment grant recently opened, to which Northborough applies for annually and has been used to outfit several new firefighters.
He said the last quote the department received to outfit the new firefighters was approximately $18,900, which could be completely covered by the grant.
In a memo to the Select Board, Parenti said it would cost $51,320 for one set of gear for each of the eight firefighters. If the department received the grant through the Department of Fire Services, the balance to be funded would be $32,320.
During the December meeting, Deputy Chief Neal Aspesi said the department did not calculate a couple of things correctly, prices have increased and there’s a drive for PFAS-free gear. Additionally, he said the department had what he called “unanticipated expenses” with one firefighter out due to an injury, another using Family and Medical Leave of Absence off and on and one position that has been open for a while.
This has resulted in overtime, he said.
Every firefighter is supposed to have two sets of fitted gear. The department has a replacement system in place with a set amount in the budget to replace gear. According to Aspesi, if it were absorbed into the budget, the money within the replacement line item would be wiped, and the department would have to ask for an increase in the budget to get back on the replacement cycle.
A second set of gear for the eight firefighters would still need to be funded, but Aspesi said it could be built into the budget.
“Can we do it? Yes. Is it going to have a dramatic effect on the fire department budget? Probably,” said Aspesi.
Tietjen noted that the board has approved using ARPA funds when other projects, such as finishing the dog park, were over budget or needed funds.
“ARPA money came from COVID. That’s what it came out of. Frankly, the fire department was the group of people that didn’t get to hide in the house. They didn’t get to work remotely. They had to show up when all of us were freaking out. I think this is a valid use of those funds to fund equipment for firefighters,” Tietjen said.
Ziton said she was frustrated because she wanted to designate as much of the ARPA funds as possible for sidewalks.
The Select Board has allocated $203,150 for sidewalks, including the preliminary design, survey and cost estimates for projects at Gale, Monroe, South, Hudson and Allen streets. Additionally, $73,450 was earmarked for final design and permitting for sidewalks on Maple Street. The board further approved $253,100 during this meeting for the construction of the Gale/Monroe sidewalk and $82,500 for Allen Street sidewalk.
Ziton said the equipment should have been factored into the original calculation.
“My issue is we made a plan for eight people. Thank goodness we have ARPA right now, but this should have been factored into the original budget,” Ziton said.
Aspesi said the cost could not be in the department’s budget as they did not know they were going to receive the grant.
“It wasn’t any kind of shell game or anything … because when we said, ‘No, we should be fine.’ We truly felt we should be fine,” he said.
Cohen said he would not vote to support the request as there are other requests “more uniquely funded by ARPA.”
“You [the fire department] have a way to do it. We can address the deficiency at Town Meeting, if we need to. We’ll figure that out,” Cohen said. “I hope you don’t see this as the board not being supportive of the fire department, given that we approved the SAFER grant and we supported bringing the fire station project to Town Meeting.”
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