Boscawen embarked on a major evaluation of the future of its town infrastructure, including its fire station, emergency medical service site and public works building.

A five-member building task force will spend the next two years studying and ultimately proposing recommendations for how to address a crop of aging municipal buildings that have increasingly hampered town operations.

The task force, which met for the first time last Thursday, will present an interim report at next year’s town meeting and a final one the following year. Any building projects would not break ground until at least late 2026.

Rather than addressing infrastructure questions in a piecemeal fashion, Boscawen’s Select Board, which convened the task force, decided a comprehensive approach would make the most sense.

“We’re really not doing ourselves any favor to continue to kick the can down the road,” Select Board Chair Lorrie Carey said in an interview. “Essentially, we’re making this the problem of our children and our grandchildren, and that’s not right. We need to take a hold of this and solve it.”

Boscawen’s population is steadily growing, but its property tax base is not high. The town’s capital reserves will likely be insufficient to cover major building costs, and the town has not historically taken out bonds – but that may need to change.

“I think that that is the benefit of having new people move into town who’ve come from elsewhere where they've bonded buildings, and it has helped to maintain the stable tax rate because that cost is spread out over 20 or 30 years,” Carey said.

At the top of the task force’s list is the town’s fire station at 17 High St., which has “begun to deteriorate,” Carey said. The building is both too small and is plagued by issues with its drainage, lighting, and water line. The town has already spent approximately $23,000 this year to address urgent problems that have arisen.

The task force will also assess the future of emergency medical services. Currently, the non-profit Penacook Rescue Squad – which services Boscawen, as well as Canterbury and Salisbury – operates out of a building at 1 Oak St., but the space cannot fit the additional ambulance that an increase in service calls requires.

The task force will consider a range of options, including an expansion at the current location or bringing emergency medical services in-house. The former would mean Boscawen residents could have to foot the bill for a building that services Salisbury and Canterbury residents as well, but the latter would cost an estimated $1 million more on an annual basis.

As part of its deliberations, the task force may consider whether it makes sense to ultimately build a public safety complex that houses police, fire and EMS in one location, according to Carey.

The fate of the public works building at 13 Woodbury Lane will also be under consideration. The building has HVAC deficiencies and cannot accommodate certain vehicle sizes, Carey said.

Hanging over the prospect of future renovations will be the question of how to pay for them. An estimate for the fire station renovations alone that was conducted three years ago came out to $8.5 million, more than the town’s annual budget of $4.9 million.

Part of the task force’s work will be to communicate its recommendations directly.

“We have to come up with a sellable plan,” said Fred Reagan, a member of the task force and the former facilities director for the Merrimack Valley School District.

In addition to Reagan, the task force is composed of Bill Murphy, a longtime builder who has worked on other town projects; Josh Crawford, who has a background in property management; Tom Laliberte, the former principal of Loudon Elementary School; and Loren Martin, who has a background in assessing.

The task force’s next meeting will be on August 15 at 5:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of Boscawen’s Municipal Building.

Jeremy M argolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.