The Fire Station Building Committee of the Town of Lakeville heard a construction-document update on March 5 as the design team moves the project from design development toward bidding.

The update focused on three near-term technical tasks: coordinating low-voltage and radio systems with the town’s dispatch infrastructure, finalizing mechanical-electrical-plumbing (MEP) choices, and preparing systems for commissioning and future interoperability with police dispatch. Kyle, a member of the design team, said the team has done “a lot of behind the scenes work with our engineers” and is integrating requirements from radio vendors, low-voltage specialists and the police department into the construction drawings so conduits, power and data capacity are placed correctly.

Why it matters: the new station must support mission-critical communications and climate control while remaining maintainable by the town. Committee members repeatedly pressed for clarity about operating and maintenance responsibilities and lifecycle costs, and engineers said they will deliver a lifecycle cost analysis comparing multiple HVAC approaches.

Key technical points

- Radio, IT and dispatch coordination: The design team held an initial multi-disciplinary coordination meeting with radio vendors, low-voltage and electrical engineers, town IT and police dispatch staff to capture equipment, conduit and power needs. Lieutenant Maltez of the police department attended to help tie dispatch requirements into the fire station design so the building can support both departments’ operations and act as a fallback if the police dispatch center loses service.

- Dispatch resiliency / PSAP readiness: The committee discussed designing the station to accept future PSAP (public-safety answering point) equipment rather than building a fully equipped PSAP now. Committee members said the town lacks funds to operate a PSAP, but asked that the new station be prewired and sized so that, if funding or a regional dispatch decision changes, the station could be connected to handle 911/dispatch functions.

- HVAC options and commissioning: The design team recommended evaluating variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems among other options and will provide a lifecycle cost comparison for typically three system types. The group emphasized the need for commissioning to confirm that pressure relationships (positive/negative depending on rooms such as decontamination spaces and apparatus bays) and controls perform as intended at turnover. Committee members raised concerns that town facilities staff may need contractor support for maintenance of manufacturer‑specific VRF systems; the design team offered possible bid alternates or an early-years maintenance package as part of the procurement.

- Interior and small-equipment coordination: The team will continue room-by-room coordination with the fire department on items such as whiteboards and displays, and will resume interior-design meetings (previously delayed due to an injury to the interior designer).

Next steps and schedule

The design team plans additional MEP and fire‑department coordination meetings the following week and will share a consolidated review set of drawings with the committee so members can see how consultants’ work fits together. The team also said it will explore options for towers, building-mounted antennas, or other less-costly antenna placements and perform a communications pathway study before proposing tower work.

The committee scheduled a follow-up meeting for Wednesday, March 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the Lakeville Police Station to receive further engineer presentations, including HVAC detail and commissioning plans.

Ending

Committee members asked staff to keep the new station flexible for future communications upgrades and to ensure bidders provide information on operation and maintenance costs so the town can budget for annual maintenance.