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Posted: 07/04/12

Architects approved for
new Bruce-Romeo station

by CHRIS GRAY
Observer Staff Writer

      Bruce officials have given the go-ahead to draw up plans for Fire Station 3.
       The Board of Trustees voted 4-0 to the Bruce-Romeo Fire Department hiring DAS Architects to work on a new fire station for the department. Trustee Mark Falker was not present at the June 20 meeting.
       The architect firm, which was hired when the township built Fire Station 2 on Van Dyke, will charge $8,530 for working on the new station.
       The department aims to move the operations from the building it leases on S. Rawles in Romeo to a new station that would be built near Fire Station 1 on East Gates Street.
       Shotwell estimated the cost to be a maximum of $100 per square foot, but doesn't expect it to reach this range.
       "I think we'll get some good bids," he said.
       Shotwell said some of the firefighters will volunteer their skills to help reduce labor costs, such as with drywalling or laying tile.
       The building will measure in at 3,500 square feet, with 1,200 of that set aside for living quarters. It will house two ambulances and one fire engine.
       Shotwell said he wanted Howard Hicks, the township's building official, to head up the project as the general contractor for $6,000. The board voted unanimously in favor of this suggestion.
       Shotwell said the station has been under consideration for the past two years, but the department is pursuing the building now that payments on Fire Station 2 will come to an end within the next few months.
       The Village of Romeo voted 5-1 on June 18 to allow the department to purchase water and sewer taps for the new building.

       Grants and donations
       The Board of Trustees is researching whether it can use unallocated Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from 2011 to take care of a portion of the new station's cost.
       Supervisor Jim Tignanelli said the funds could only be used for square footage where an ambulance would park. He said if the township can prove the ambulance serves a certain number of Medicaid or Medicare patients, the township will qualify for the funding.
       Clerk Susan Brockmann said the township has six months to try and prove the ambulance transports the required patients.
       In addition, Shotwell said a long-time resident recently left $17,400 in their will to be donated to the fire department. He did not specify how the funds would be used.