City moves closer to construction of $10-million fire station, Council OKs architect hire

by Dan Holland

Broadview Heights City Council approved a resolution during a special meeting Nov. 29 authorizing the city to enter into an agreement with Van Auken Akins Architects LLC, of Cleveland, to provide architectural services for a new fire station and fire department headquarters.

Based on a spatial needs study conducted earlier this year by the Center for Public Safety, plans call for a 27,500 square-foot, $10 million facility to be constructed on the city campus near Station 2, at 9455 Broadview Rd. Station 1, at 3591 E. Wallings Rd., which currently serves as the department’s headquarters, will remain in use.

Plans call for a six-bay double-depth station with an equipment bay, training/hose tower and mezzanine area, 10 bunk rooms, administrative offices, firefighter/EMS support rooms and a training/community room.

The city expects to have a charter millage ballot issue in place for the May 2022 election, according to Mayor Sam Alai. Other funding sources would come from the city and potential federal grant dollars.

“We’re looking at coming up with 20-25% of that funding from the city’s coffers somehow, someway,” Alai said during the work session. “We’re also looking at going into funding grants through the federal government and also putting on the appropriate charter millage. We would like to start with that this month, putting it on a first reading, so that we can get it onto the May ballot. We’re serious about doing this, and it’s much needed.”

Fire Chief Jeffrey Hajek outlined the need for the new station during the work session.

“The stations have been here for 50 and 60 years, respectively,” said Hajek. “We have storage inside the bays, with gear not meant to be stored in there. They’ve just outlived their useful life for what a station should be, and we’ve used up every inch of space. I’ve been here 30 years, and we’ve never done any major renovations to the stations other than adding a few walls and some paint, and most of that work was done by the firefighters while on duty. We haven’t wasted any money on these stations and we’ve gotten every bit of useful life out of them.”

Council President Robert Boldt said there are code violations in both stations due to a lack of adequate space.

“Some of the fire equipment is stored outside,” he explained. “The voters need to know that, sometimes in the winter, they have to brush the snow off before they can leave to go on an emergency call. I don’t think they realize that that’s happening. That’s another four or five minutes minimum that they’re waiting in a time of need.”

Hajek agreed.

“So, either we put money into bad fixes and try to alleviate those violations, or we fix it completely – I think we should move on this,” he said. “As the mayor said, we need a good-faith dollar amount so we can go to residents and tell them that 20-25%, we’re going to fund ourselves through saving money in other areas in addition to possibly getting grants. That way, if the voters know we’re being responsible, I think they’ll vote for this. If they know that these stations are 50 and 60 years old, they may not like voting for it, but this is important.”

Hajek said that aside from stations in Parma Heights and East Cleveland, the two current stations, built in 1963 and 1973, are the oldest in the county to have never been renovated or replaced.

“The goal is to go to the residents in May of next year and tell them what we need and see if they’ll approve it,” he added. “If that passes, then along with the funding we have from the city, and from the federal grants and from [the ballot issue], then we’ll move forward and start working on whatever that is. If that means early 2023 to start putting a shovel in the ground to begin work, we’re hoping that that will be the timeframe. Now that we have the architects picked, they can design exactly how that’s going to fit in our city and fill all those needs that are going to last us hopefully for the next 60 years and beyond.”

Fire station fund created

Council also passed resolutions creating a fire station construction fund and also approved a fund advancement into the account to pay for costs related to the construction of the new facility. The city will advance $1 million from the general fund to the new fund to cover the estimated $810,000 fee to be paid to Van Auken Akins Architects. Once the design phase is complete and the project is bid out, the city will issue debt for the construction, and the advance will be returned to the general fund, Finance Director David Pfaff said.

“This would be a capital improvement fund to pay for the cost of the construction of the new fire station including the design, construction, equipment, furniture/fixtures and inspections,” said Pfaff during the work session. “The revenue would come from either tax levies, debt issuances, transfers from the general fund and/or fire levy fund and also grants.” ∞