Waterford ― The Representative Town Meeting on Monday night authorized the town to purchase the Oswegatchie fire station and the land it sits on from the Oswegatchie Fire Company for $1.

The town would then use the land to build an estimated $12.1 million firehouse to replace the department’s decrepit building, which would then be demolished. It would be the first time the town has funded the construction of a firehouse for one of its five volunteer fire companies, which own their own buildings.

The approval was the last required to finalize the purchase of two parcels owned by the fire company at 439 and 441 Boston Post Road. Combined, the land totals 2.07 acres and in 2022 was appraised by the town at $1.37 million.

Town and fire officials for years have reported numerous structural problem with the current building, which was built sometime in the 1930s. About 14 years ago, it was shored up with support beams. Since then, there’s been water damage to the roof and mold has grown on the ceilings.

Additionally, for about three weeks this past winter, firefighters had to use temporary heat sources and were left without hot water when a pipe broke on the building’s boiler system, according to Fire Chief Chris Pafias.

“This is a long overdue project to protect Waterford’s citizens and property,” Pafias said Monday.

The contract was signed by Pafias and First Selectman Rob Brule on Feb. 2. A closing is scheduled for July 1. The sale is contingent on the town constructing the building. If it fails to do so, the land and building would revert back to fire company ownership.

Town Attorney Nick Kepple said the fire company will be allowed to lease space in the new building. He said a lease agreement would be signed before the RTM’s next meeting in April.

A few RTM members were concerned the town had signed a contract before getting their approval and were asking for funding before the lease agreement was signed with the town.

But members went ahead and approved spending an additional $127,000 to hire Silver Petrucelli + Associates of Hamden to design the new building.

The $127,000 will be added to $204,000 that was left over from a previous building design in 2018. Another design was done in 2014.

RTM Member Timothy Condon voiced his concern Monday that the Ad Hoc Fire Services Review Committee had forgotten its promise to review the town’s fire services and report its findings to the RTM.

He said the town should have done this before making a long-term commitment like building a new fire house for one of its five fire companies.

Project cost estimate

Oswegatchie Fire Station Building Committee and RTM member Ted Olynciw sent a letter to the RTM Jan. 6 that calculated the cost of a 13,350-square-foot station, the size designed in 2018, at $12.1 million.

RTM member Jennifer Bracciale, whose husband, Rocco Bracciale, is deputy chief at Oswegatchie and a member of the building committee, said she was “furious” that Olynciw had released the estimate. She said doing so constituted “scare tactics” that would stall the progress of the project.

“We discussed this as a committee and we decided we were not going to put these costs out there to you, because we have no basis of what the size and needs of the firehouse are going to be,” she said. “We weren’t going to discuss this until Silver Petrucelli put forth a new plan.”

Oswegatchie Building Committee Chair Robert Tuneski said once designs are completed, the committee’s goal is to come back before the RTM to ask for money to build the new firehouse. His goal was to do so in 10 months.

“The clock is ticking. The longer this project is delayed, the fuse on the dynamite keeps getting shorter and shorter. Nobody thought that church was going to collapse,” ” said building committee member Wayne Gilpin, referring to the Jan. 25 collapse of the First Congregational Church steeple in New London.

d.drainville@theday.com