GRANBY — During the Oct. 21 Granby special Town Meeting voters approved needed funding for its fire and ambulance services and denied a potential new animal control bylaw as five of six articles passed.
Fire and ambulance services was the focus of discussion on Article 5, which was passed and asked the town to transfer $216,640 for the purpose of funding the fiscal year 2025 Fire Department Budget ($104,640) and the FY25 Ambulance Department Budget ($112,000). The town will transfer this funding from its available funds account, the stabilization fund and from free cash.
Granby Fire Chief Michael O’Neil explained to town meeting members these additional funds will only cover the salaries of firefighters and paramedics as well as a provisional firefighter covering for an injured employee. O’Neil said an increased number of calls has led to more work and the third year in a row with an overage of the budget.
“If we can’t supply a fire department, I have to contact the State Fire Marshal Office and he has to determine what we are going to do moving forward. I don’t want that to happen. I would never have predicted that we would run 150 to 160 more calls than we did in the years past,” said O’Neil. “In the last three weekends of October, we’ve run 22 fire calls. That’s just fire calls, not the EMS included.”
O’Neil added there are only two firefighters on duty in one shift for both fire and medical emergencies. If the ambulance or fire engine is out and the station gets another call, the chief must reach out to call firefighters to help. If no on-call staff can help, then mutual aid is the only other option.
O’Neil said before the vote that if it were to fail, the ambulance and fire service would be out of commission for five to seven days per month, with only mutual aid available to assist town residents.
“It comes down to a safety concern and not being able to provide the highest level of service that you’re expecting when you call 911,” O’Neil added.
Residents spoke overwhelmingly in support of approving the necessary funding and that the town should focus on potential additions to staffing in the future.
“This is not to spend money willy-nilly. This is to staff the Fire Department,” said resident Joshua Powers. “Everyone who lives here gets an ambulance within five to six minutes. They get a fire truck in five to six minutes. If there’s no staffing at the station, that goes away and you now wait 10 to 20 minutes if an ambulance is available for mutual aid.”
The lone article to fail was Article 6 which was a proposed animal control bylaw. The proposed bylaw was brought to Town Meeting in an attempt to replace the current canine control bylaw.
Much of the conversation on the article was focused on the difference between a “domestic animal” and a “personally-owned animal” which made it unclear which regulation applied to which animal. One resident pointed out that if horses are considered a “personally-owned animal” then a horse that defecates on public or private property must be disposed of by the owner according to the public nuisance section of the bylaw.
“It seems very atypical for a farming community to have a leash law,” said resident Tim Abbott.
Selectboard Chair Crystal Dufresne argued the bylaw was not specifically saying that.
“We’re asking that you be cognizant of the fields that the kids play on at Dufresne Park, that you are also cognizant of people’s property,” Dufresne said.
One resident, a father of three young children, said often when visiting the park with his kids they sometimes get scared by dogs running around without a leash. Another resident suggested the town create a leash rule for the park.
“I think it’s two very different pieces of agenda,” said another resident.
The article failed but before ending the meeting Selectboard member Glen Sexton urged residents to get involved in future public hearings on the manner.
“I definitely appreciate everybody’s comments referred to the new bylaw because we definitely want everybody’s input. When this came in front of the Selectboard we had two public hearings and asked the public to come and voice their concerns and their thoughts or opinions. We are a board of three and we definitely need the input from the residents of Granby,” section said.
Also of note from the meeting, article’s 2 and 3 were passed unanimously and will establish a new tax work-off program for people over the age of 60 and for veterans.
The full special Town Meeting can be viewed on the Granby Community Access & Media YouTube channel.
