City given fire station options
Originally published 01:37 p.m., May 29, 2008
Updated 01:37 p.m., May 29, 2008
The Emporia City Commission learned the particulars of three different options for what it can do about the deterioration of Fire Station No. 2. All three cost more than the city has to spend.
Andy Pitts, a representative of Treanor Architects, told the commission at its Wednesday morning work session that building a new, up-to-date, 18,000-square-foot Station 2 would cost the city between $3.5 million and $4.375 million for construction. Renovating the existing station to address only its “major issues” would cost $361,000 for construction. A third option, which featured renovation of the building with about 8,000 square feet of additions, would cost about $2.26 million.
The city could potentially mix and match aspects of those options, which would create a project with a different cost. But the commission’s discussion Wednesday made it clear that under any scenario, coming up with the money would be difficult. City Manager Matt Zimmerman noted that while the city’s capital improvement plan for 2009 has $750,000 allocated toward improvements for Station 2, a funding source for the CIP hasn’t been identified. Zimmerman said a decision needed to be made on station 2 fairly quickly so an amount could be plugged into the ’09 budget. The commission will discuss its options on Station 2 further at its June 11 work session.
Commissioner Jeff Longbine said the issue would take a lot of consideration, “because the reality of it is, we don’t have the money to do any of it.”
“Other than pending reserves, we don’t have ($361,000) in the general fund,” he said. “And so by the time you take that, or you go to the $2.2 (million) or you go to the $4 million ... you’re talking about increasing the money out of the general fund, which is going to add a mill, two, three, four, depending on which option you decide.
“We still haven’t addressed the health insurance fund, we haven’t implemented the wage and classification study, which in my opinion is going to add a mill or two. So you’ve got four or five mills here, you’ve got a 10 percent increase in property tax over our current level.”
The city hired Treanor in February to examine station 2’s problems, which included uneven settling, a leaky roof, insufficient space, past problems with mold, and outdated living and sleeping quarters.
Structurally, Pitts said, station 2 is sound, with a strong foundation on which to build — it’s “just a 30-year-old building that has been heavily used over that period of time, and there’s some wear and tear, and it’s time to replace and upgrade some of those systems.”
There is minor deterioration in the facility’s concrete wall panels, Pitts said, and its joints need to be re-caulked. The biggest deficiencies at the site, Treanor’s analysis concluded, are inefficient allocation of space and not having enough space for fire department programs.
Overall, Treanor found that 60 percent of the building was in acceptable or good condition, with exceptions including its heating and cooling, lighting, special construction and life safety issues. Pitts said Treanor would recommend replacing the roof, the outside air system and the boilers and chillers in the station’s mechanical system. Treanor also worked with Fire Chief Jack Taylor to take into consideration the fire department’s program needs.
The $361,000 renovation option would cover the minimum work needed to bring the facility up to date, including replacement of the roof, the apparatus bay slab and the parking lot and sidewalks. Treanor estimated that option would take about four months to complete, depending on how it was phased. With this project, Pitts said, the facility’s life span would be extended by at least 15 years.
The $2.26 million renovation-plus-addition option would include an addition to the apparatus bay, new administrative offices, a new entry to the building and a new training classroom, as well as renovations to the dayroom, kitchen and sleeping quarters. The eight-month project would add 8,000 square feet to station 2 and would require firefighters to move to a temporary station unless the project is multi-phased. Pitts estimated it would extend the building’s life span by 30 to 50 years.
Building an entirely new facility, at either the existing site at 1415 Industrial Road or by the Public Works facility at 1220 Hatcher Street, would vary in cost depending on construction type, hence the range of $3.5 million to $4.375 million. The medium-range cost option would be a stud-framed building with pre-engineered trusses, while the higher end would feature a steel-framed facility with concrete structure.
Longbine asked if the $361,000 renovation could be done in phases over a three-year period; Pitts said that it could.
“That’s something we could absorb,” Longbine said. “That’s something we could do expense reductions somewhere else and make it work. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t look at doing it all at one time, or we shouldn’t look at (renovation plus expansion) or whatever. But are we willing to make the sacrifices in other areas to do this?”
Mayor Bob Agler said that option two, the renovation-plus-expansion, and option three, building the new station, couldn’t be done without debt funding.
“I do think we have some real options, none of which are bad,” Agler said.