Lyndeborough Select Board members Fred Douglas and Lee Mayhew discuss Internet coverage in town during a Select Board meeting on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Ashley Saari / Monadnock Ledger-Transcript)
Lyndeborough Select Board members Fred Douglas and Lee Mayhew discuss Internet coverage in town during a Select Board meeting on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. (Ashley Saari / Monadnock Ledger-Transcript) Credit: Staff photo by Ashley Saari—Monadnock Ledger-Transcript...

Though the prospect of building anything is still years away at least, Safety Complex Study Committee Chair Scott Roper suggested the town should start preparing for the possibility of funding a new safety complex or fire annex.

Roper met with the board during its meeting Wednesday to give them an update on the committee’s activities. The committee has been charged with studying the needs of both the fire and police departments and coming up with possible options for new housing for both or either of the departments at some point in the future.

The police department is currently housed in Citizen’s Hall and consists of a single large office room. The Fire Department has its own building, but the length of the fire truck bays requires that the town order custom-built trucks, which costs up to $100,000 more per truck, due to the bays being too short to accommodate the standard length. There are also multiple other space and potential safety issues in the fire department building, making it the priority for the study committee at the moment, said Roper. The station is also not located ideally in the town center, said Roper.

While both Roper and Select Board member Lee Mayhew estimated that it would be several years before conditions at the fire station became dire enough to require a new building or a new annex, Roper suggested that the town, at the upcoming Town Meeting, create a capital reserve fund to start saving for a potential land purchase.

Mayhew agreed with the sentiment, adding that it would be prudent to request that the selectmen be allowed to expend the fund without having to appear before Town Meeting, so that if land in the town center that would be suitable becomes available, the town can act quickly to acquire it. 

“Sites are limited,” said Mayhew.

Roper said that the committee had yet to come to any firm recommendations on a potential location for a safety complex, or whether it should include both the fire and police. The board asked for a further update on the committee’s progress before the end of the year.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or at asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.