Selectmen set timeline for public safety options
By Nicole LeBlanc
By the end of close to a fourhour meeting, Ashburnham Selectmen had set a timetable to move the decision-making process forward in terms of the town's yet-to-be-built public safety building.

Residents, public safety personnel and others attending the Tuesday, Sept. 5, selectmen's meeting not only filled the small

office at town hall, but because of the crowd, also overflowed into the hall.

For many, the key topic of the meeting was the lack of a public safety building to building to house Ashburnham's dispatch unit, firemen and police force.

"The issue of the hardware store needs to be dealt with," said Jonathan Dennehy, chairman of the selectmen. "We owe it to the townspeople one way or another to have a project started as soon as possible."

Sitting quietly through the last few meetings, Selectman Mark Carlisle took the opportunity to speak up regarding the public safety building project.

Having sat on the first committee and spent two years with the other volunteers meeting and researching the project, he said now that the new construction estimate has come in, he's tired of the complaints and negative statements.

"We can throw blame seven ways to Sunday," he said. "We need to dust the dirt off the back of our pants ... lick our wounds and move on."

Carlisle basically said that it was time for the second public safety building committee to come to grips with reality and face it that the prices are what they are, there are no other ways to twist them.

"If it's a circus tent that goes up there then that's what it is," he said. "One way or another, we need to get this done. We have to move ahead quickly."

Also presented to the board was a letter written and signed by members of the fire department calling for a decision.

"We wish to have this runaway train stopped," the opening of the letter read. "We need a home."

The letter criticized Selectman Christopher Gagnon for his comments about the former public safety committee.

"Now that he is Chairman of the new Public Safety Committee, he has had the perfect opportunity to put into place all of 'his' solutions that he accused the old committee of not taking into account as possible design options," the letter states. "Well, we are still waiting for these solutions."

Gagnon said during the meeting that the potential building sites are being reviewed. Although the hardware store is still under consideration, it is not the only possibility.

"We're going to look at what we have remaining for options," he said.

Unanimously, selectmen voiced a deadline for the end of September. At this time, the public safety building committee must present their recommendations for an appropriate location. Dennehy said that the best scenario would be to have several sites for the townspeople to choose from, as opposed to one site. If two buildings are approved, the voters will vote on the building they prefer.

Carlisle said that lessons could be learnt from past mistakes, but that the serious issue needs to be dealt with.

"We can't waste anymore time," he said. "We do have a timetable now. Let all the chips fall as they may. We're building something in the spring."