The department says it will begin to hold bingo as a fund-raiser in the upcoming months in an effort to supplement its operating budget. The events will be held in the rear portion of the existing building on Maple Street, which was formerly rented by Ewald Instruments. Ewald moved out last year, depriving the fire company of just under $50,000 a year in rental income.
The fire department operated bingo as a fund-raiser for many years in the 1990s in the Kent Community House. The plan is to operate weekly bingo on Sunday afternoons. KVFD treasurer Dwight Soule is heading up the group to run games. He has run the bingo operations at the Kent Firemen's Fair for many of the past 18 years.
"Bingo is a terrific fund-raiser," he said. "It is very popular, attracting lots of players and does not require much manpower from the volunteers to operate."
He anticipates normal operation will be done each week with only four people. This is an important consideration for KVFD as it has limited resources of volunteer workers.
KVFD operates four annual fund-raisers to help fund its $200,000 operating budget. The Ice Watch is held in February, the Firemen's Ball in June, the Firemen's Fair in August and the golf tournament in September. In addition, the town makes an annual contribution of $75,000.
A change of use for the former manufacturing building must be requested of the Kent Planning and Zoning Commission. KVFD hopes to be on the March agenda of the commission. Preliminary permit paperwork has been submitted to Connecticut's Department of Revenue Services.
Bingo players may check the KVFD website www.kentfire.org for the start date of bingo in Kent.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the timeframe for submitting proposals for construction of the new firehouse firefighters hope will sit on the Maple Street site. The Kent Firehouse Building Committee (KFBC) met 11 representatives from seven different construction firms on the site last Friday to answer questions about the plan for a new building. The town has asked for proposals that contain at least some pre-engineered parts but left it up to the contractors to submit designs.
"It went well," said KFBC chairman Matt Winter. "We expect at least three to five proposals. We were all really pleased by their enthusiasm."
He said most of the questions asked Friday focused on existing site utilities. "They wanted to know about the power to the site, where the water service was, things like that. There were also contract administration questions and who would look at submittals," he said. "And they wanted to know why we decided on a design-build program."
The town settled on a pre-engineered [metal] building after a plan for a conventional building was rejected by the townspeople as too costly in 2005. Ironically, with the steady escalation of expenses, it is probable the metal building will cost nearly as much as the plan that was rejected.
He said only about half the contractors who attended were from "true pre-engineering companies."
"We left it open to them what they proposed," he said. "The only thing we set in stone was a cost of $3 million and 15,000 square feet."
He said he would transmit written responses to the questions. "We answered their questions verbally, but I told everyone anything they can rely on has to be in writing," he said.
The Board of Finance geared up Tuesday night for its role in the process if the townspeople given their imprimatur to the project. The finance board has stood ready for more than a year to work on financing if a plan is approved.
Finance chairman George Jacobsen said that the $3 million plan developed by the KFBC does not include funds for legal expenses and bonding. Neither does the figure reflect the money remaining in the KVFD coffers and the two STEAP grants amounting to $800,000. Finance member Paul Abbott, who sat on two previous firehouse committees, noted that the plan also does not include $200,000 in demolition costs.
"My concern is strategy," Mr. Abbott continued. "Let's say the firehouse building committee gets back six proposals or whatever it gets. I'm guessing that we will be into April before they can say this is one we want to have. There will be no easy way to get this done before we get to the end of the budgeting process. It makes it very difficult. If we need $3 million, how are we going to do this? It's just lot we have to do."
Finance member Chris Garrity again cautioned against putting money into the five-year capital plan before townspeople have approved a project. "The town has not supported the yet," he said, adding that he is concerned that no vote will be taken until sometime in summer.
Mr. Abbott opined that a vote on the plan is possible in May after the town's budget for next year is complete, but was advised that a referendum would be impossible then because of rules prohibiting use of the voting machines for a period after the Region 1 budget referendum.
"It's a separate issue and should be treated as a separate issue," said finance member Todd Cole. "If it is approved in June, July or August, then we make a decision. We shouldn't budget in anyway for something that doesn't exist."
Mr. Abbott agreed. "What we hope the town will do in as timely a fashion as possible is commit to firehouse and then we can decide what we want to do. But we don't tax unless have something we're taxing for. We've got to stop this nonsense of thinking that this is going to be resolved this fiscal year."
Bids on the firehouse are due March 9 and the price agreed upon will remain good for 90 days.
Mr. Jacobsen said it would be impossible to go to a town budget meeting and not talk about the biggest expense potentially facing the town. "It seems to me everyone will know that bids have been submitted," he said. "I think we will have a problem going to a budget hearing and saying we don't want to talk about the firehouse. I think we need to make brief presentation on the numbers and what we will do."