At the annual Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Committee meeting on August 21, Chief Darren O’Brien presented two plans to the committee, updating them on projects that were presented last year. The first was the renovation of Central Station that would affect solely the Fire Department, and the second was upgrading the communication equipment infrastructure of the town.
Currently, the equipment used by emergency responders, including Londonderry’s Fire Department, Police Department, and local Department of Public Works (DPW) employees, is outdated and can be unreliable at times, according to O’Brien.
This update will improve communication between emergency responders and the DPW workers by providing state of the art technology, but will also broaden the range of Londonderry’s communication system, allowing opportunity to expand Londonderry’s reach in surrounding communities.
Last year, the estimated cost was a little over $4.1 million, but O’Brien now estimates that the cost will be around $3.7 million. O’Brien explained that when they first started this project, they did not know what discounts they were to receive from the suppliers. After calculating the remaining expenses, the cost came out to be $3.622 million, town-wide for all three departments.
O’Brien has talked with Kevin Smith, the town manager, about the project and plans to discuss it further with members from the Police Department.
“That’s the complete price of the project, whether we get there in one lump sum, whether we get there in steps, or what type of funding we do to reach this goal, I just wanted to give you guys what the full number was to complete the project,” O’Brien told the committee.
Last year, the project was moved to Priority 1 status by the Planning Board after it went through the CIP Committee, with full funding of $4.2 million, “final purchase of lease arrangement and funding mechanism to be determined in future budgets,” according to the Planning Board’s Public Hearing draft.
One main concern of the committee was a lack of police presence regarding this infrastructure upgrade at the meeting.
So far, the Londonderry Police Department has not had a strong representation in this project, according to both O’Brien and the committee members.
At the meeting, O’Brien spoke of his plan to meet with Christopher Gandia, Londonderry Police Department’s Captain of Services Division, and consult about the plan. Gandia was assigned to oversee the police department’s role in the project.
At the end of the meeting, the CIP Committee determined that the Planning Board should be advised that this project remain Priority 1, considering a lack of proper communication equipment poses a major safety risk to both the emergency responders and workers and the community of Londonderry.