We are not building a Donald Trump Fire House'
To the editor; I am writing this in response to the letter submitted By Daniel and Sandra Boyce. First, I would like to thank them for attending one of our meetings. I am a commissioner for and a taxpayer in the Pine Island Fire District. When I took office in January 2007 I had already been attending monthly meetings so I had first-hand knowledge of the district’s business. With that in mind let me advise you that this building project is in no way a rush. The Board of Fire Commissioners and the Fire Department building committee have been working on this for many years. They have already purchased the land, paid for that land in full, requested proposals from architects, reviewed them, consulted an attorney for the project, had studies completed, soil testing done and many more things that you have not stated in your letter. Yes, we are asking for approval to issue a bond in the principal amount of $4 million. We plan on financing this over 30 years. Yes, we are spending more than the Warwick Fire District did because: Our building is bigger than the Warwick Fire House. Warwick has water; we do not so we have to have a well. Warwick built its building five years ago; building materials have gone up. We are required to have a sprinkler system. We will be required to have underground water tanks to supply that sprinkler system with water,;that sprinkler system is required to have its own pumping system to supply it and it cannot be part of the main water system. We are required to have an exhaust fumes recovery and removal system. The Warwick Fire District has multiple buildings that it uses to support its operations. We will be operating out of one building to do training, hold meetings, house equipment, conduct the business of both the Fire District and Fire Department. Yes, there are only approximately 600 taxable households in the Pine Island Fire District. About 50 of them are members of the Fire Department and/or elected officials. The tax increase will be no more than $3 per $1,000 of assessed value. And yes, your taxes did go up this year, mostly because of the costs of continuing this project to the point we are at now, being able to bring it to the public for a vote. Yes, it may be 10 years when we will be looking to buy or refurbish another fire truck. We will be looking to the taxpayers to approve that at the time it comes up. But what you fail to state is that taxpayers are now paying for a new truck that will be paid for in full within seven years. When it is paid in full, if I am still active on the board, that money will be placed into an account to offset the cost of the next new truck. This is planning and just good business. No, there are not any members of the Chamber of Commerce on the building committee. On the idea of a gymnasium, architect Peter Cirillo said he has seen buildings built that have had weight rooms to support the membership and to help recruits members, but no one on the Board of Commissioners or the building committee has approached this to the best of my knowledge. Yes, there will be limits on parking, but the land is only so big. We, the Pine Island Fire Commissioners, called for a meeting so that the taxpayers that we represent had the opportunity to review and ask questions in reference to this project. Yes, only basic conceptual drawings were available at the time of the public hearing. Commissioners did not want to spend taxpayers money for these drawings (front of the building) because we were not going to spend the hard earned money of our taxpayers unless they were supporting the project. You also failed to mention that Mr. Cirillo offered to complete these renditions as requested by the public for free. I am in no way the know-all and be-all of Fire Commissioners. I am just a member of this community who was asked to do a job as commissioner and I took that responsibility. I will always listen to what others have to say and evaluate it for what it is worth. We are not building a Donald Trump Fire House. We are asking for the support of the public to build a building to be the home of the Pine Island Fire Department for at least the next 50 years. George R. Haas Commissioner, Pine Island Fire District