I am moving the open fire station post up from last month as I see my website has been generating more hits due to today's article in the Post-Crescent. Be sure to also read the response to the editorial post from 6/25, to understand why there is the million dollar gap from what residents voted on at the annual meeting.
Taxpayers were recently informed the proposed fire station costs have been increased from $3.5 million to $4.5 million. A million dollars is a substantial amount of money, so taxpayers need to understand why there is a projected cost increase.The original idea was to build a fire station. Can a simple fire station be built for $3.5 million? The answer is yes. However the advisory panel began to see more than a “simple” fire station was needed, and the submitted plan reflects this.
The Federal government and Homeland Security, are pressing local municipalities to have a national incident management system in place. The federal government is telling local governments they need to handle their own emergency situations. The new station would double as our emergency center. This includes having a backup generator that will power the station in emergency situations.
In addition, the base of operations would be moved to the new station. This includes the command center, adminstation, training, and inspection. The decision was made to keep the 5.5 bays for future apparatus or future services. The training tower is being kept so firefighters do not have to travel out of town for this type of training.
The size and location of the proposed station reflects the continuing growing needs of our community. Do we build a simple fire station that would be obsolete in a few years, or does our town have the vision to build a facility that is more than just a fire station and will serve our community for 50 years? I am voting for the latter.
Do I want to spend this additional million dollars? No. But the reality is, substantial cuts have already been made to get it to the projected number. Any additional cuts would negate the integrity of the fire station, to the point where it would not serve the community’s needs.
The most significant point to come from last night's town board meeting was the board has approved the plan submitted to the fire station committee by Strand and Associates. Now the plan can go out for bids and an actual cost can be determined. Hopefully, the bids can close the gap between $3.5 and $4.5 million figure.
Keep this in mind: The additional million dollars presented at the June 19th meeting by Administrator Rohloff would increase taxes $5 per $200,000 home. Response times will be greatly improved and the average homeowner will save that on homeowner’s insurance rates alone, with lower ISO ratings.
Postponing action is only postponing the inevitable. This has already been going on for several years. Delaying this any further will only increase the cost to you, the taxpayer, and compromise our safety.
