East Hampton panel seeks end to $150 farm stand permit

The town's fire commissioners plan to ask for $480,000 to replace the fire department's 20-year-old air packs.

The air packs are the department's SCBA, or self-contained breathing apparatus, the air supply firefighters wear into smoke. The request follows a letter from SCOTT, a breathing-apparatus maker, "referencing the NFPA standard," according to the Oct. 19 minutes of the Board of Fire Commissioners. The NFPA, the National Fire Protection Association, writes safety standards for fire departments.

The air packs top the minutes' list of four capital requests to be submitted for the 2027-28 fiscal year. The others are $25,000 for turnout gear, the protective coats and pants firefighters wear; $10,000 to repair dry hydrants, the pipes fire trucks use to draw water from ponds and streams; and $50,000 for a Conex box, a steel storage container. The four come to $565,000.

The same night, James Radavich, the Board of Finance member who serves as its liaison to the fire commissioners, reported to that board that capital planning was underway. The finance board's minutes list "air pack replacements due to expiration dates" as an example. He also reported 78 current volunteers.

The commissioners also heard a proposal from David Lundquist to enhance the stipend and LOSAP for volunteer firefighters, which the minutes say is meant to retain members and keep them engaged. It would cost $11,300 more in the first year and an additional $21,750 in the second. The board did not vote and plans to take it up again at its next meeting.

In other business, the board voted 4-0 to spend $2,088 on two Knox boxes, the lockboxes that hold a building's keys for firefighters. It also voted 4-0 to approve Joe Asklar as a deputy fire marshal under what the minutes call a reciprocal agreement between Marlborough and East Hampton, to be used when the town's fire marshal is out of town. A proposal to move the board's start time from 7 p.m. to 6:30 is to be voted on at the next meeting. Earlier, at a special meeting Oct. 5, the board had voted 4-0 to accept a memorandum of understanding with Marlborough on fire marshal coverage. The Oct. 19 minutes also say a response to the Town Council on a new firehouse is being drafted.

Members of the town's Firehouse Site and Development Committee decided Oct. 5 to go with a new building for Company 1 and keep Company 2 in service as it is, the committee's minutes say. Company 1, on Barton Hill, handles 92 percent of the department's calls by the fire chief's count.

The town's consultant priced four options from $7.1 million, for a new Company 2 alone, to $25.9 million for new construction for both Company 1 and Company 2. The Town Council makes the final decision, and a new fire station is competing for the same capital money as $15 million to $20 million in road repairs.

They chose that direction after the consultant, Silver Petrucelli + Associates, presented its estimates. The minutes record no vote on it, give no price for the option members chose and do not say where a new Company 1 would go. Members split up the writing of a recommendation to the council, and the minutes say the drafts could be voted on at the next meeting.

The next meeting was scheduled for Monday, Nov. 2, with "Final Recommendations" on the agenda. As of Tuesday the town had posted no minutes or video of it, so whether the committee acted, and what it decided, is not yet known. At their April 6 meeting, members wanted to see capital improvement by late 2026 to get it into the capital budget for the next budget season, the minutes of that meeting say.

The consultant, which the committee recommended in March and the council approved, gave these estimates Oct. 5, as the minutes record them:

• A new Company 2 building of 7,000 square feet: $7.1 million, rising to $8.4 million after three years and $10 million after five.
• Companies 1 and 2 combined in one building: about $21.5 million.
• A new Company 2, with Company 1 kept and renovated: $24 million.
• New construction for both Company 1 and Company 2: $25.9 million.

The minutes note that today's costs may not be what the work costs when it is built.

The minutes record no reason for the choice beyond that it made "the most sense to the members." Earlier in the meeting, the minutes record that more than 90 percent of the department's calls come out of Company 1; Fire Chief Robert Rainville, a committee member, had put it at 92 percent in September, according to the September minutes. Members already bring their dirty gear to Company 1 to be cleaned, and "Company 1 needs to be the headquarters for both buildings," the minutes say.

Company 1's "bones" are decent and its facade is what needs replacing, the minutes say, and the consultant said the easier option would be to rebuild Company 2 and renovate Company 1. Parking and an addition on top of Company 1 were discussed, but someone at the meeting called another addition "a short-term fix for a long-term problem," in the minutes' words.

The building members would keep has problems of its own. In April the consultant said Company 2 would be listed as the building needing the most attention, and the minutes of that meeting say its concrete slab and the front of the building were sinking. In July the consultant recommended soil borings or similar testing before the town makes a major investment there, according to that meeting's minutes.

Members considered a single, centrally located building for both companies a good option and "the most feasible for the town," the Oct. 5 minutes say, before choosing the new Company 1. The Company 1 and Company 2 lots are each 0.67 acres, "on the small side" for a fire station, and a 10-acre parcel in Cobalt would be big enough but is not central. One suggestion was to tell residents the committee is looking for property in the Village Center or elsewhere central.

Rainville volunteered on Oct. 5 to draft the recommendation and send it to the council. The chairman, Town Council member Richard Knotek, volunteered to write an introduction and a summary of the consultant's reports, which is to mention Company 3, the town's third station. Mary Ann Dostaler, a public member of the committee, volunteered to write a synopsis of the buildings' condition, with estimated renovation costs and what to do in the short term. Members also suggested the consultant raise the square footage in its estimate to 7,500 to add decontamination rooms, where firefighters clean contaminated gear.

At the Board of Finance on Oct. 19, member James Radavich, who also sits on the firehouse committee, reported on the Board of Fire Commissioners. The finance board's minutes summarize his report: the "evaluation committee" was completing its reports, and "expectations are that new is going to be the only option." Under "New Firehouse Discussions," the fire commissioners' minutes from the same night say a response to the Town Council is being drafted.

East Hampton voters choosing a state senator on Nov. 3 are picking between Sen. Norm Needleman, an Essex Democrat seeking a fifth term, and Charles Ferraro, a Clinton Republican who spent 10 years in the state House. The two served together on the legislature's Energy and Technology Committee, and they disagree on two things that reach East Hampton households: how much say the state should have over housing in small towns, and the public benefits charge on the electric bill.

At a candidate forum on Oct. 14, Needleman said, "I don't believe that everything is about local control," and that most of what is in the charge now is energy hedges and energy efficiency. Ferraro said, "We need to allow the local towns to run their own zoning," and that he would file a bill, if elected, to "repeal completely and permanently" the charge.

The 33rd District covers East Hampton, Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Portland, Westbrook and part of Old Saybrook. Needleman appears on the Democratic and Independent Party lines and Ferraro on the Republican line, according to the Secretary of the State's sample ballot.

Housing

The forum was held at John Winthrop Middle School by the Essex Library and Brainerd Memorial Library and recorded by Valley Shore Community Television. The two men spoke well of each other there.

The first Senate question was about the state's 2025 housing law, Public Act 25-1, which gives the state and regional councils a bigger role in planning for housing. Needleman said towns rely on the state and federal governments for guidelines and incentives, and that he would like to see "more incentives from the state."

Ferraro said small towns "don't want to be painted with the same brush" as Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford.

The two differed on 8-30g, the state law that lets developers of projects with affordable units appeal a local zoning denial, and makes the town prove its reasons, in towns where less than 10 percent of homes count as affordable. Ferraro said, "I completely hate that bill," and that it lets "predatory developers" get around a town's zoning.

Needleman called 8-30g "an obsolete and terrible law, but nobody has come up with a better solution," and said it still lets local zoning boards vote no on health and safety grounds, such as septic and traffic.

The electric bill

The public benefits charge is the section of Eversource and United Illuminating bills that pays for energy programs and power contracts the legislature has required.

Needleman said too many people have "conflated the name, public benefits, with the idea that these are social programs for people." He said the name has been used "as a cudgel."

Ferraro said the programs worth keeping could instead "compete with all the other benefits in the general budget."

Closing arguments

Needleman said his "gut feeling is it's better to have somebody in the majority representing you, because they're likely to be able to do more to help the towns that we have here."

"I will fight to bring down property taxes by not supporting or voting for any unfunded mandates," Ferraro said.

Norm Needleman

Needleman was first elected to the Senate in 2018. He is the Senate's deputy president pro tempore and Senate chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, according to his Senate Democrats page. His campaign site says he is in his eighth term as Essex first selectman and founded Tower Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company, and that he takes no salary, benefits or pension as a senator.

His site says his focus is "balancing the state budget, paying down debt to benefit the state's fiscal future and find ways to expand housing availability amid a significant shortage."

Charles Ferraro

Ferraro's campaign site says he served five terms in the House for the 117th District, in West Haven, Orange and Milford, rose to be the Republican leader on the Energy and Technology and Veterans' Affairs committees, and owned a karate school, which he recently sold. He now lives in Clinton.

His site lists his priorities as removing "the 'Public Benefit' charges from your electric bill," providing "tax relief by expanding the property tax credit," and local control of zoning, saying "each town cannot operate under 'one size fits all' mandates from the state government."

The money

Ferraro is in the Citizens' Election Program, the state's public financing system, which gives grants to candidates who raise a set amount in small donations and agree to spending limits. Needleman's reports show no public grant; his campaign is funded largely by loans from himself. Both filed reports with the State Elections Enforcement Commission on Oct. 22 covering activity through Oct. 20.

• Needleman raised $11,890 from individual donors and lent his campaign $200,000, then forgave $100,000 of it on Sept. 24, leaving $100,000 outstanding. His committee had spent $166,946.05 and had $44,943.95 on hand.
• Ferraro raised $22,756 from individual donors and received a $131,095 public grant on Sept. 16. His committee had spent $119,244.68 and had $34,606.32 on hand.

The chamber forums

The Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, whose board of directors includes Needleman, invited both men to its Chester, Deep River and Essex division's candidate forum on Friday, Oct. 2, according to the chamber's event listing. The listing does not say who attended.

The chamber's East Hampton forum, on Oct. 7 at Town Hall, became a dispute in the 34th House District race after Republican Melissa Ziobron posted that she was the only candidate who showed up. The chamber's listing for that forum does not name the candidates it invited, and neither Senate candidate's campaign site mentions either forum.

How to vote

Early voting runs through Sunday, Nov. 1, in Room 117 on the first floor of Town Hall, 1 Community Drive, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Thursday, Oct. 29, when it runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the town's Registrar of Voters, the Secretary of the State's list of early-voting sites and the state's Oct. 19 announcement. Same-day registration is available during early voting and on Election Day.

On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls across the state are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., under state law. East Hampton votes at the East Hampton High School gymnasium, 15 North Maple Street, according to the registrar.

The rest of the town's ballot is in our early voting story.