Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Mr. Crow wanted to know where that money showed up at and if pulled out of <br />Reserves, was it in the budget. He said the residents haven’t been given the notice <br />to talk about a new fire house, so Council doesn’t know if they support it or not. <br /> <br />Mr. Kraft said rejecting money for the proposed fire station did not save the City <br />money; it just pushes the expenses into the future. Expenses do not go away they <br />just become greater than the $674,000 asked for now. Mr. Kraft said this was a $3.4 <br />million fire station that cost U City taxpayers about $800,000 to $900,000. He said <br />the fire house would cost $209 per square foot to build but with the grant will cost U <br />City tax payers $52 per square foot. Mr. Kraft said that funding it this way would <br />release $2-3 million dollars for other pressing Capital needs. He said the City has <br />postponed significant unfunded needs for years in order to balance the budget, by <br />delaying capital spending on streets, buildings, fire trucks and other depreciating <br />assets. He said a report by the Public Works department suggested that it could <br />cost $12 million to catch up on delayed street and sidewalk maintenance. Mr. Kraft <br />suggested that the City and the school could market the old library, soon to be empty <br />fire station and the empty Delmar Harvard as land for development, taxable land. He <br />said the Council should not repeat the short term mistake of balancing a budget by <br />further delaying capital expenditures. <br /> <br />Mayor Welsch seconded Mr. Kraft’s comments. She said the previous administration <br />started work on this grant: July 2009: previously administration applied for a FEMA <br />grant; August 2009: Council approved the grant application (resulting in approval <br />came a month after the grant was submitted); September 2009: the Council knew the <br />grant came in $.5 million less than applied for; January 2010: the previous Council <br />approved the contract with the architect for $343,000, which included money for a <br />project manager. Mayor Welsch said a new fire house has been under consideration <br />for more than two years; it is located where it will be closer to more U City residents, <br />which will help the City to maintain their ISO rating; public hearings are required for <br />conditional use permits, therefore no public hearing is required at this time. She said <br />the City needs to start looking at the long term needs of the community; the City has <br />taken short- term view for far too long. <br /> <br />Gregory Pace, 7171 Westmoreland <br />Mr. Pace complimented Council on a civil debate. He said he has a document dated <br />October 3, 2011, by the fire chief for a study session stating “project management, <br />with proper bid qualification for general contractor in addition to oversight from <br />architect and staff this would save the approximate eight percent, which is $245,000 <br />additional unfunded cost for project manager.” Mr. Pace said the citizen is only as <br />good as what they received and this said “unfunded cost for project manager.” <br /> <br />Mr. Dockett, 6844 Crest Ave <br />Mr. Dockett fully supported the proposal for a new fire station. He said he had a list <br />of people who could work on this project. <br /> <br />COUNCIL COMMENTS <br />Mr. Price asked if the cost would be cheaper to the public if it were put in a bond <br />issue and spread out over a period of time versus taking directly out of reserve. <br /> <br /> 6 <br /> <br /> <br />