Submitted by John Stella
We have local economic problems in Bedford. Sadly, we have seen several store closings. The Paper Store, HomeGoods and some restaurants and other small businesses closed because their storefront rents are too high in Bedford. Most recently, the Peppers Grill restaurant was closed last Friday. The economy in Bedford is not good. The cost of doing business in Bedford is high.
Please vote “no” on Article 3 at Tuesday’s Special Town Meeting for the proposed fire station. The construction cost of $32 million price tag is too high for Bedford. The project could cost more than $32 million because of high inflation rates and that could cause cost overruns. It will raise property taxes that middle class families in Bedford cannot afford. We cannot afford a bailout by the town.
Please cancel your summer vacation plans and attend Special Town Meeting on Tuesday, June 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Bedford High School. Please vote “no” on Article 3.
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I am in favor of a new firehouse, but the costs alarm me. Can we please see the requirements for the security, technology, communication, and peer reviews? I’m also interested in the requirements matrix against the solutions/answers. Where are the standard, formal project management tools and outputs? How were the values for “contingencies” and “general conditions” determined? Were they outputs from formal risk management analysis? If not, how? Where is the financial analysis–costs now, next year, two years from now, at the end, etc.?
I’m sure if you reach out to the finance committee they can share all that information. They may not be looking for questions in the comments section here.
Much of this was discussed at Fire Station Building Committee meetings, HDC/FSBC joint meetings, and the FINCOM/FSBC joint meeting. All of these meetings are on the town calendar and open to the public. You can also pull information from the New Fire Station Project page on the Town website: https://www.bedfordma.gov/696/New-Fire-Station-Project or from the Fire Station Building Committee page on the Town website: https://www.bedfordma.gov/800/Fire-Station-Building-Committee. You can also reach out to FSBC, HDC, and FINCOM for minutes from their meetings.