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Fire hall still to be split dealBy Barbara Brown Stacy and Lent Township residents gathered last Tuesday night in Stacy to sit in on an informational meeting about a planned new fire department building. According to Lent Township supervisor chairwoman Monica Abress, the township had to rebid the project because of an earlier faulty bid process. She said new bid packages will be received this week and a contract is expected to be granted by next week. Residents in attendance were concerned that the city and township had not entered into a new joint powers agreement that would define the split of ownership of any building, equipment and how much each entity would pay toward the project. Currently, a 77 percent ñ 33 percent split is proposed for a new joint powers agreement, but Lent has balked on further discussions. Abress said the township will not discuss a new joint powers agreement any more until firm numbers are available on the cost of the project. Lent informed Stacy last year that the township wanted to dissolve the current joint powers agreement. At that time, the township knew it wanted to build a new fire building and a new joint powers would likely be needed. The current joint powers agreement expires next June. Three of four sections of a new joint powers have been agreed to in principle, but the fourth part - which delineates how much each side pays for the project - is still up in the air. Stacy council member Barb Otterson said Lent would not come to the table for further discussions until the first of the year. She had no problem with that. Council member Katie Davidson tried to explain to the residents that it is beneficial for the city to remain out of the official process right now. According to state law, if the city were to enter into firm agreements now, it would be obligated to have engineers, attorneys and other regulatory bodies check out the plans, construction and completion of the project at an unknown cost to the city. Stacy Mayor Kathi Lawrence told the people in attendance that she had wanted a city hall attached to the fire building, but that Lent would not discuss it. Abress explained that the township would not think of adding a city hall to the project because lead firefighters had expressed their concerns that no one else be immediately around the area of the fire building in case of an emergency. Lent residents also do not want to pay for the cityís town hall, one man said. Abress told residents that the previous owner of the 20 acres the township bought for the new fire hall location had ordered that the property be used for the greater good of the community. She said the land owner would not have been willing to sell the land had the township not agreed to use it for the community. She said baseball and soccer fields are two options for some of the land, and a community center in the future is another possible idea. ©ECM Post Review |