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Editorials
Saying it was time to do something with the vacant Depew Library, Lancaster Supervisor Giza proposed to the Lancaster Town Board that they locate the Lancaster Office of Emergency Management (OEM) there.
Supervisor Giza declared that there were some structural issues with the building but nothing that would be considered of a dangerous nature; water coming in somewhere. “I don’t want to go through another winter with this building being vacant. There are no buyers out there lining up.”
Councilman Ron Ruffino interjected that every time they had a prospective buyer, the project would be shot down anyway (by the Village of Depew).
“I talked with Bob (MacPeak – Disaster Coordinator) about using it and he’s all excited about it,” said Giza. “OEM would go in there and refurbish it on their own. The property is getting unsightly. There’s enough parking there and enough room to put up a pole barn building in the back; in the future. You could store the buses and OEM equipment in the back, otherwise Bob would be at Columbia Avenue and the equipment would be at the Pavement Road facility. We do have a 100 foot tower to put up and a light would be put on it. I did not put any money in the budget for this. The leaves have to be removed from the gutters and cosmetically it’s got to be upgraded, but there are rest rooms for both genders and Bob feels they (OEM) can do it inexpensively. So if that’s the direction we want to take, we should move to make it happen.”
Bob MacPeak interjected that when inspecting the building he understands that the heating system needs repair or replacement. He is confident the boiler requires only repair and he has the funds in place to make that happen. “It would have to be taken care of regardless of use to keep the building sound,” MacPeak declares. “It’s a must right now because there is no heat in the building and it’s very damp. Some parts of the drywall need replacing.”
“Outside of putting up a folding door to section off the building, all other maintenance is of small nature. If we get the structure done, I have already talked to other members of the team and we will take care of the painting. We visualize having in the front of the building our four seasons of disaster preparedness. For each season we can put a display out there and plan on having training sessions, making it into a community building.”
Councilman Dan Amatura declared that it was about time the town did not put any money into the vacant library building without getting any return or in making necessary improvements to the existing OEM building. OEM member Len Campisano voiced that OEM has outgrown its current building use. Amatura added he thought it was great idea and a good place to locate the OEM. “They have always taken care of their own building. “We can’t sell, so let’s use.”
“It shouldn’t be intrusive to the neighborhood,” Giza added. “Probably less so than the library was. There won’t be any sirens, no lights of any significance, and other than that, I don’t know what else to do with it.”
Councilperson Donna Stempniak interjected that the building had recently been wired for computer use. MacPeak voiced that he had a guy already set up to come in and examine the wiring for just that purpose. He is just waiting for the town to give him the go-ahead. “We would be ready to start cleaning and prepping the place the day after you gave us the approval.”
MacPeak added that they would like to get going on petitioning for an annual state renovation grant which could be somewhere between a $150,000 to $160,000 for an emergency center operation. Only one grant a year is approved. Tonawanda got it last year and used it for the same purpose.
Supervisor Giza added that he was not certain whether the air condition system works. McPeak voiced that there is an available stand-by power system in place, but that a generator would be needed (cost dependent on size requirement).
“There is no money in Bob’s (McPeak) budget for this,” declared Giza. Perhaps not, but MacPeak asserts there are available alternative means of generating power for immediate needs - running computers.
“The parking lot is already there so all we would have to do is resurface it (fill i cracked areas). There is plenty of room for parking. We could park those buses (Mobile Operation Centers) and vehicles in the back and have operations in the building. Everything would be there. Outside of the county operation, this would probably be next best. We would like to do the inside in the winter and work on the outside in the spring.
It was then agreed that as the building was unsalable, is costing money to maintain without use return ($11,000 per year) and would not have an operation that would be intrusive to the neighborhood, they would by resolution move in the direction of locating the OEM building to the vacant Depew Library on Columbia Avenue.
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