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Chief Miner said it came to light when they started work on the final design of the <br />fire house in July. He said we still have the opportunity to turn down the grant. Mr. <br />Miner said the architect told them that a cost from $180 to $200/per square foot was <br />the average cost for a fire house. <br /> <br />Mr. Crow asked if Council could see the new rendering of what the architect has <br />proposed. Mr. Miner said it was almost complete and he would forward it to Council <br />electronically. <br /> <br />CITIZEN COMMENTS <br />Greg Pace, 7171 Westmoreland <br />Mr. Pace said the fire station was sold as a freebie to the City tax payers, with Wash <br />U giving the land and FEMA paying for the building cost. He quoted from an article <br />in the Post Dispatch stating “There is virtually no charge to local taxpayers, officials <br />say.” He said the officials then missed the fact that there was a $200,000 match in <br />the grant. Mr. Pace said the City knew that after the award of 2.6 million dollars; <br />they did not get the 3.4 million dollars requested. He said the City stated that they <br />would cut back and it could be done for the lesser amount of money. He said that <br />now the citizens are asked to put up the $875,000 when it was originally sold to <br />them as a freebie. Mr. Pace noted that there was a bond issue which included the <br />$200,000 for the match and the additional funds needed to equip the firehouse and <br />the public voted it down. He stated that the fire grant application was submitted on <br />July 5, 2009 yet the resolution to approve the grant application was signed by the <br />Mayor (Mayor Joseph Adams) on August 31, 2009. Mr. Pace asked if a new fire <br />house was really needed as a lot of money has recently been put into the annex to <br />do necessary repairs. He also noted that there were 52 code violations noted and <br />yet in two years they were never enforced. <br /> <br />Ms. Ricci asked Mr. Walker if it was imperative to approve this item at this meeting <br />as the Council does not have a lot of the information on the budget for the new <br />firehouse. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker stated they could bring it back at the next Council meeting and asked <br />Ms. Ricci to provide the City with the information she would like. <br /> <br />She said she would like to see the details of of the $3.48 million dollars that the <br />firehouse will cost. <br /> <br />Mr. Kraft withdrew his motion on item number 2 of the City Manager’s report. <br /> <br />3. <br />Possible new police facility <br />Ms. Ricci moved for approval and was seconded by Mr. Glickert. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker said the existing facility has some major safety concerns; there also are <br />liability issues associated with it. He said the City has done some basic preliminary <br />work on the idea of a new police station. Given that the City owns some property at <br />Olive at North & South and at Olive at Midland, the City could use one of the <br />locations to locate a new police facility. Mr. Walker said this was before Council to <br />see if Council had any interest in staff pursuing this idea. <br /> <br /> 4 <br /> <br /> <br />