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to over one million dollars. Mr. Pace noted that a structural engineer did not review <br />or make the statement that the firehouse was structurally unsound. He said the <br />professional engineer, sent by FEMA, who reviewed the structural soundness of the <br />building, is registered in Washington DC but his degree is in fire protection <br />engineering and noted this profession did not require any structural engineering <br />classwork and did not have the pedigree, background or knowledge on structural <br />engineering. <br /> <br />Edward McCarthy, 7101 Princeton <br />Mr. McCarthy said it is not that the firehouse is not a good idea, but is it needed and <br />is it needed at that location? He was concerned about a firehouse in a residential <br />neighborhood and the complaints coming from the noise. Again he said the City <br />does not know the cost of the complete operation and should not just accept the <br />grant because it is free money that is not really free. <br /> <br />Lawrence Taylor, 7472 Stanford <br />Mr. Taylor broke down the cost of a new firehouse stating: $200,000 for the City’s <br />match, $674,000 needed for construction, signal light around $200,000, which <br />brought the cost to around one million for the free grant money the land that was <br />given to the City by Washington University. He said also to be added to the new fire <br />house cost would be what will be needed to retrofit the present firehouse building at <br />which was previously estimated at $1.5 million. Mr. Taylor said the decision to <br />accept free land and grant money will cost the City between one and three million <br />dollars. He said the City did not go through a good planning process on this project. <br /> <br />Elsie Glickert, 6712 Etzel <br />Ms. Glickert said it would be a good investment if the City had an outside structural <br />engineer do an evaluation of the present firehouse building, as it is a historic <br />building. She said the grant application is flawed, which states that the new land sits <br />upon a hill and the existing fire station sometimes floods and stated that the new <br />location will never flood. She stated that those who live here know this area floods <br />every spring. <br /> <br />COUNCIL COMMENTS <br />Mr. Kraft asked to clarify whether the $245,000 was not included in the budget. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker stated that the City would work with the project architect and the <br />contractor to ensure the project manager was paid out of that envelope of funds <br />already in the budget. He stated that the contractor has not yet been hired. <br /> <br />Mr. Crow asked who on staff is to be responsible for managing the project. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker stated the fire chief would be in charge of the overall project. He said the <br />project manager would report directly to the fire chief. <br /> <br />Mr. Crow noted that the City Manager said the project manager is coming at no <br />additional cost to the City. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker stated he could not go any further than his previous statement noting that <br />if Council makes a decision to proceed, then the City would work with the architect <br /> 3 <br /> <br /> <br />