Dike council, fire department weigh options for fire station

DIKE – For some time now, the Dike City Council and Dike Fire Department have been deliberating a fix for the fire station dilemma: To build a new station, or to fix the old one?
“What we’ve been doing is looking at upcoming maintenance needs for the building and we’re trying to weigh whether or not it’s more prudent to use taxpayer money to update [the current] building and make those necessary repairs, versus investing in a new structure,” said Dike City Council member Luke Osterhaus.
The current fire station, which was built in the 1940s, no longer fits the needs of a modern fire department.
According to Marv Geiken, Assistant Fire Chief, the old station has a number of issues.
“It needs a new roof, new trusses, that kind of thing. There’s been issues with leakage,” Geiken said. “Plus it’s just not big enough. We added on back in the 70s, and it’s just barely big enough for the trucks we have now.”
According to Osterhaus, the city has had several people walk through the station and advise them on what needs to be fixed, and how much it would cost, but that the repairs in general would be very costly, and would still not meet all of the fire department’s needs.
For the full story, see the March 16 edition of The Grundy Register.