Conrad council reviews initial fire station plans, estimates

The Conrad city council got its first real look at plans for the long awaited new fire station to be built at the Smith Development during Thursday night’s regular meeting as two representatives from the IS Group attended to discuss the proposal and answer questions.
 
ISG provided the council with a diagram of the approximately 60x125 foot facility (see above graphic), which contains a total of four truck bays for the fire department (two of which are drive through), one for the BCERTs, restrooms, a kitchen, an office and a storage room on the main level along with a total of 22 parking spots. The initial proposal also contained a basement with an office, meeting room and another storage room.
 
One big problem became apparent early on in the discussions, however: the estimate that ISG provided came in well over the $1,000,000 budget- by around $500,000- that the council agreed upon for the project. Council members seemed to agree that removing the basement from the facility would be one way to cut costs and get closer to budget (which would save the city over $120,000). The fire station committee, which consists of councilmen Todd Schnathorst and Ryan Callaway, Mayor Jeff Martin, City Clerk Denise Hoy, Fire Chief Tom Schulz, Assistant Fire Chief Chris Harris and BCERT Captain John McNair, had requested a storm room in case of inclement weather, but Callaway said that the proposal from ISG amounted to a “storm shelter” that was far larger than what the city needed. 
 
Read more in this week's Grundy Register.