A tax increase in that the St. Joseph-Stanton Fire Protection District asked for in the Spring of 2016 has paid off.
The district will be building a new station.
When the district took the tax increase to the public they laid out specific needs that they needed to address, these included gear and equipment that had reached the end of its life or had reached a point where it had to be updated. The district also explained to the public that they needed a tax increase so they could set up the budget for the future and be able to lay out replacement schedules for more equipment.
“Since the referendum, we have addressed those pressing equipment needs and updates have been made,” Fire Chief Josh Reese said. “The final aspect of the referendum request was that somewhere in the future, after we had addressed the more important, personal protective gear needs, we would move forward with building a new fire station.”
That time has come.
The district is in the final planning stages for building a new station.
The station will be built on the open lot, just east of their current station and parking lot. The station will sit on the corner of Third Street and Warren. The main entry and exit will go out onto Warren Street.
Once the station is completed all the equipment and apparatus will be moved. The current station will then be torn down to make a parking available.
The current station was constructed 45 years ago in 1973 and was not originally built to be a fire station.
“However, we have made things work and it has served our needs well for a long time,” Reese said.
The district has currently outgrown the station, something that actually happened many years ago.
The district is still getting bids and estimates on the cost of a new station.
“We are a taxing body, which means we have to bid everything out and those bids will also be priced at prevailing wages,” Reese said. “So the rates we will see are likely to be a little higher than if an individual or private entity were to build the same building.”
The district feels that if they wait to build a new station construction and material costs will only continue to increase.
In the next few days the district plans on posting a few artist renderings of what the new station will look like and will describe what the actual building will look like more in-depth. The district pans to keep the public updated on the project as it continues forward.
The district said they would like to thank St. Joseph resident Josh Daley for his hands on guidance through this process.
Daly is the President of Mode 3 Architecture, which is the firm that has been hired to head up the project.
“Daly has been crucial to the rollout of this project and has approached the project with the mindset that we want do things the right way, while also ensuring that we are being cost conscious, while also not cutting corners that shouldn’t be cut,” Reese said. “He made it clear from the beginning, that as a fellow taxpayer, he wanted to make sure that his fellow residents would be proud of the project and be happy to have supported it.”
Daly referred the district to Jeremie Duzan of Synergy Industries, who will serve as the Project Manager.
“We would like to thank him for his efforts thus far and the efforts he will put forth in seeing this project to its completion in the second half of 2019,” Reese said.
The district also expressed their thanks to those that voted to support the referendum in April of 2016.
“Without your commitment to the community and your support to us, none of this would be a reality today,” Reese said. “Thank you for helping us move into the future.”
