Taxpayers in Melrose, Massachusetts, approved a temporary tax hike to renovate or replace all four of their outdated public safety buildings.
According to results on the city’s website, roughly 60% of residents who cast a ballot in Tuesday’s election voted “yes” on the measure.
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The development comes after an NBC10 investigation revealed a litany of issues inside the city’s fire stations, including no heat in the winter, leaking roofs, rodent infestation and raw sewage.
Our story also raised safety issues for the first responders who live and work in the buildings.
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The work on the city’s three fire stations and the police station is estimated to cost $130 million.
“The need to replace our public safety buildings is abundantly clear. We simply cannot expect our first responders to provide modern public safety services in aging and obsolete buildings, some of which were built over 120 years ago,” Mayor Paul Brodeur said in a statement to residents when he announced the measure would be on the ballot last September. “This is an unsustainable situation, and the status quo cannot continue.”
After getting a tip, the NBC10 Investigators submitted a public records request related to conditions inside the Melrose fire stations.
Investigations
Emails we obtained revealed a steady stream of messages from Fire Chief Ed Collina to public works officials about problems that surfaced.
Collina later gave us an eye-opening tour of the department headquarters, which was built at the turn of the 20th century.
Among the sights: a plastic pool placed in the office to catch ceiling leaks; a disintegrating kitchen floor lined by mouse traps; and a section of condemned flooring, held up by temporary pillars in the basement and no longer able to support the weight of fire apparatus.
In the wake of our story, we heard from fire departments across the state, inviting us to come check out the conditions inside their stations.
Senator Walter Timilty is proposing legislation that would establish a public safety building authority to review and approve projects in municipalities.
Modeled after Massachusetts’ program for school buildings, the state lawmaker said dedicated sales tax revenue would provide state funding and help local taxpayers shoulder the burden.
Melrose resident Katy Kennedy, who wrote a letter to the editor in the local newspaper, said she was “surprised and thrilled” the public safety building question passed by a significant margin. She said the NBC10 investigation garnered a strong reaction in the community.
“I think the tax hike did pass because more people were made aware of the deplorable, unsafe and outdated building, equipment and training our public safety personnel have worked under for decades,” Kennedy told us. “Many residents were shocked by your ‘Small Town Secrets exposé.”
Ryan Kath can be reached at ryan.kath@nbcuni.com. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
