Council Approves Borrowing Nearly $1 Million for Garage

Haverhill City Hall. (WHAV News file photograph.)

The Haverhill police department can look forward to a future fleet maintenance garage facility on Highway Department grounds, potentially named for the man whose estate has provided the department a trust fund for law enforcement purposes.

Haverhill city councilors Tuesday unanimously approved a bond authorization allowing the city to borrow $900,000 toward a new $1.2 million police garage facility on Primrose Street. A suspension of the rules allowed a motion by Councilor Thomas Sullivan, naming the facility after Elmo D’Alessandro, to be placed on file for a vote in two weeks. The procedure, taken since the designation was not included in the bond order, brought a moment of humor between Sullivan, Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O”Brien and Mayor James J. Fiorentini.

Fiorentini: “I was going to name it the Thomas Sullivan Memorial Maintenance Facilty.”

Daly O’Brien: “You told me it was going to be the Daly O”Brien.”

Sullivan: “We can’t wait that long.”

The city will use $325,000 from the D’Alessandro trust account for the fleet maintenance facility project. The trust account was also used for a new roof at the police headquarters. Referring to D’Alessandro, Sullivan said “someone who gives that amount of money certainly deserves some recognition for his benevolence.”