As part of the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Protection Territory’s 2020 proposed budgets, money is being set aside for an architectural study of fire station 2 and for a portion of the countywide communications system.
All four of the territory’s budgets were approved to be forwarded on to the city council, which will review them at 6 p.m. Aug. 19. Mayor Joe Thallemer told the board there are 27 pay periods in 2020 versus the usual 26, which impacted the budgets.
The architectural study is in the territory’s equipment replacement fund, which is proposed at $1,142,742 for 2020, a 6.51% decrease over the $1,222,272 budget in 2019.
Fire Chief Mike Wilson told the fire territory board $150,000 was put in for station 2 architectural design in the equipment replacement fund under the suggestion of city engineer James Emans. Another $290,000 is in the budget under station 2 structural repairs and maintenance, the same amount that was in there for 2018 and 2019. Wilson said a professional company will look at station 2 for some structural changes, potential remodel and “what we’re going to do with the exterior metal siding.”
Thallemer suggested Wilson articulate his concerns with station 2 a little more.
“Back under Chief Brubaker, there was an assessment done structurally of station 1 and station 2. Station 1 needed to have a facelift done, metal trussing across the bottom of it and it had some structural steel issues, some interior insulation issues in the equipment bay,” Wilson said.
“During this same survey, station 2 was looked at on East Center Street. There are some rust issues with structural steel in the bays. There are some concrete issues on the exterior of the structure of the administration side. There’s potential heating and air conditioning issues. All we’ve really ever done with that structure is reroof it … It’s time to have someone come in and look at it.”
He said the block is coming loose off the front of the building. There is brick separation on the west side of the structure, and there’s rust across the bottom of the steel on the outside. Concrete in the exterior portion is pulling away from the foundation. There’s some settling.
“It’s time to look at the building that was built in … 1978. We’re just exploring potential. There’s been some early discussion of building a structure on the east side of the equipment bay,” Wilson said.
He said they’ll have to look at costs vs. remodeling and fixing the issues to the current administration and living quarters side of the building. The consultant will come in and help determine the best avenue for the fire territory and city, he said.
Wilson does not anticipate any costs associated with station 2 repairs will come out of the 2020 budget. If the garage doors and the insulation to the top of the equipment bay will fit into the architecture’s design, Wilson said, those will probably happen first. Roughly, he estimated repairs to the station will be about $800,000.
All the reports on the building recommendations and costs will come before the fire territory board.
Another $300,000 was put in the equipment replacement fund under capital outlays for the countywide communications systems.
Wilson said Kosciusko County had an outside agency come in and look at the whole county and all its emergency services to come back with a plan for a countywide communication system. The plan comes with a “significant”dollar amount to it.
“We, as the center part of Kosciusko County, and a large footprint, want to be respectful and responsible in assisting – if this moves forward – with this large change in communications. This is going to be, from my understanding, multiple towers, a new type of radio communication,” Wilson said.
He said in the future there will be some public presentation, but the budgeted $300,000 will be a way for the city to assist the county to fix communications in the central dispatch center and all county agencies. Wilson said he doesn’t know what the final total cost of the system will be.
“This is just for where we’re headed in communications within Kosciusko County and Warsaw being in the center of it. This is just a good start,” Wilson said.
Tony Doyle, Lutheran EMS and a member of the county’s communication committee, said it’s a great project and he was 100% behind it.
The operating fund, which includes salaries, wages and benefits, is proposed at $5,313,990, a 7.88% increase over 2019’s $4,926,040.
Wilson said the budget includes one additional new hire, an EMS coordinator.
The operating fund has a 56.38% decrease under capital outlays because the purchase of a new fire hose and tornado siren are being moved to equipment replacement. A tornado siren going in this year will be by the Zimmer Biomet area, Wilson said. The whole community will be reviewed before the next siren placement is decided, but will be north of town.
The fire pension for 2020 is proposed at $288,088. It’s for pension obligations the city has.
The last fund is the Hazardous Material Response Fund and was just set at $5,000.
