Plympton Town Properties Committee Asks May Town Meeting to Fund Fire Station Design

PLYMPTON -- May 4, 2024, Plympton's Town Properties Committee made its public case for a new $12 million fire station at a May 4 information session ahead of the May 18 town meeting. The committee's chair and Fire Chief Cheryl outlined a building constructed in the early 1970s that houses seven apparatus in six bays, forces maintenance outdoors, and cannot legally or physically accommodate a full-size replacement ambulance. A fresh cost estimate put the project at $11.9 million with roughly $700,000 in alternates, up seven to eight percent from last year, with a 30-year bond carrying an estimated $680,000 annual payment. The May 18 warrant article asks only to borrow approximately $977,000 for full design and bid documents, not to build, with the balance of a prior $300,000 appropriation expected to cover roughly three years of debt service. The committee said it is "one incident away from the state telling us that we have to do a new building," potentially at a cost exceeding $2 million with no design input from the town.