Fire Truck, Comprehensive Plan on the Watertown Capital Plan

A comprehensive plan for the town and a new fire truck for the Fire Department are among the items on the Fiscal 2013 Capital Improvement Program.

The Town Council approved the recommended capital projects and programs for Fiscal 2013 on Monday night.

The Comprehensive Plan ­– which covers development, business, transportation and other factors – is a plan for the future of Watertown. The money to pay for the program will come from funds left over from the Fiscal 2012 capital program, said Town Councilor Vincent Piccirilli, the chairman of the Budget and Fiscal Oversight Commitee which created the proposed Capital Plan.

Left over money from the purchase of a pumper truck for the Fire Department in 2010 will be used to purchase another pumper truck. The money had been earmarked to pay for an ambulance, but Treasurer/Collector Phyllis Marshall said it did not qualify, Piccirilli said.

Left-over money from the construction of the new Police Station will be used for the (the former Browne School Playground).

Other items on the list include:

• Street and sidewalk construction, $2.5 million
• An ambulance, $210,000
• A shuttle for the Senior Center, $110,000
• Repairs of the compressors at Ryan Skating Arena, $25,000
• Information technology equipment, $150,000
• Police equipment, including new bullet-proof vests, a evidence photo validation system and two speed-radar trailers, $50,000

The recommendations were made by the Budget and Fiscal Oversight Committee, which consists of Town Councilors Piccirilli, Angeline Kounelis and Cecilia Lenk. They met five times over the last month and a half to hear from department heads.

Town Council President Mark Sideris thanked them for their work.

“I commend the (Budget and Fiscal Oversight) committee for doing a yeoman’s work,” Sideris said. “It is a significant undertaking.”