At its meeting Tuesday, the New Ipswich Board of Selectmen met with a handful of town leaders to prepare for upcoming decisions in the police, fire and recreation departments.
Across the street from the town office where select board meetings are held is the New Ipswich Police Department. The first speaker to address the board on Monday was from the Police Facility Committee, responsible for a plan for when the department leaves that building.
“We went through multiple iterations of design,” committee member Bernard Hamill said. The committee has made plans to remodel a building behind the current town office into a “highly electronic” police station, a plan that would cost $1.98 million.
“There’s a lot of latitude,” Hamill said. “That’s why it’s important for us to decide what we need so we can build that into the design.”
The renderings presented provide space for an emergency response team, communications team, long-term evidence storage, and holding cells, which the current station does not have.
Selectman David Lage recused himself from the Police Facility Committee due to potential future conflicts of interest.
Hamill finished, “If it’s not funded, we have the option of staying put.”
Fire Chief Meredith Lund addressed the board next. She is working with it to create job descriptions for employees of the department, including fire inspector.
“We’ve been trying to define the roles of what they’ve been doing all along,” Lund said.
Inspector duties are currently being carried out by the building inspector, Rick Donovan, and the board debated whether he could officially take both roles, and if so, how would he be compensated. The members decided it would be from a portion of fire inspection fees.
The department is going to purchase a new digital thermal imaging camera.
Mindy Buxton, director of the department of parks and recreation, asked the board for permission to start two new subcommittees within the umbrella of recreation: adult recreation and the Fourth of July. “What I’d like to do this year is get some projects started and ceate programs for seniors and adults,” she said.
Brandon Latham can be reached at blatham@ledgertranscript.com.