Trustees provide update on fire station design
Township website to be back up soon
Photo by ALLISON WOOD Tara Powell (second from right) was sworn in as a member of the Lafayette Fire Department at a July 17 meeting.
LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP – Township trustees provided an update on the fire station project and swore in a new firefighter during their July 17 meeting.
Trustee Mike Costello said there have been three design committee meetings held so far with architect Ed McCall, of McCall Sharp Architecture, and the township will hold one more. The committee consists of residents, including County Administrator Scott Miller, Trustee Marty Warchola, an engineer by trade, and others with related backgrounds.
Preliminary drawings were made available after the meeting, but Costello said they might change slightly. The station will have six double bays that can store two vehicles in each if necessary, a meeting room with a capacity to 90, kitchen, day room, bunk rooms, a weight room, a decontamination room to clean gear, a tower to be used for training and office space.
The department has staffing hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, with firefighters coming to the station from home the rest of the time.
The station will be approximately 20,000 square feet, slightly larger than previous estimates due to lower estimated costs. It will be located in the area of Technology Drive and Wedgewood Road west of Lake Road on land recently donated by the county.
The construction will replace the current station No. 1 on Wedgewood Road, which is over 50 years old and is too small for the department’s needs. The other fire station in Chippewa Lake will remain.
After the design is completed, the project will be put out to bid and an exact cost will be determined. Township voters approved a 2.5-mill, $4 million bond issue to construct the station; trustees said they hope this number will be significantly lower, with collection ceasing if it is paid off early.
Website troubles
Bowers said the township’s website, lafayettetownship.com, will be back up soon after contracting with a new web host. Due to security concerns, the township broke its contract with its previous provider after the site kept going down and after experiencing security issues, such as receiving spam messages and people reporting receiving fake messages presumably from the township.
‘New’ trustee
During the meeting, Bowers asked Warchola about his experience serving as trustee so far. He was appointed four months ago after the death of former Trustee Bryon Macron; state law required trustees appoint a replacement within 30 days.
“Under the circumstances, it was painful to say the least, there was no way to do it sensitively,” Bowers said. “Time has passed, tell us what you think.”
Warchola said he is enjoying his time so far but had no real idea of the time commitment required to be a trustee until he was in office; both Bowers and Costello said they thought they spent on average over 20 hours a week between meetings and dealing with other issues that pop up.
To begin the meeting, Tara Powell was sworn in as the newest member of the Lafayette Fire Department. She will serve as an EMT.
The township will host an outdoor movie night Friday, Aug. 25 at Buckeye Woods Park starting at dusk. The exact movie is yet to be determined, but will be PG-rated. Trustees agreed to host the event the next day in the town hall lot in case of rain due to the park being booked for an event.
Trustee Mike Costello said there have been three design committee meetings held so far with architect Ed McCall, of McCall Sharp Architecture, and the township will hold one more. The committee consists of residents, including County Administrator Scott Miller, Trustee Marty Warchola, an engineer by trade, and others with related backgrounds.
Preliminary drawings were made available after the meeting, but Costello said they might change slightly. The station will have six double bays that can store two vehicles in each if necessary, a meeting room with a capacity to 90, kitchen, day room, bunk rooms, a weight room, a decontamination room to clean gear, a tower to be used for training and office space.
The department has staffing hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, with firefighters coming to the station from home the rest of the time.
The station will be approximately 20,000 square feet, slightly larger than previous estimates due to lower estimated costs. It will be located in the area of Technology Drive and Wedgewood Road west of Lake Road on land recently donated by the county.
The construction will replace the current station No. 1 on Wedgewood Road, which is over 50 years old and is too small for the department’s needs. The other fire station in Chippewa Lake will remain.
After the design is completed, the project will be put out to bid and an exact cost will be determined. Township voters approved a 2.5-mill, $4 million bond issue to construct the station; trustees said they hope this number will be significantly lower, with collection ceasing if it is paid off early.
Website troubles
Bowers said the township’s website, lafayettetownship.com, will be back up soon after contracting with a new web host. Due to security concerns, the township broke its contract with its previous provider after the site kept going down and after experiencing security issues, such as receiving spam messages and people reporting receiving fake messages presumably from the township.
‘New’ trustee
During the meeting, Bowers asked Warchola about his experience serving as trustee so far. He was appointed four months ago after the death of former Trustee Bryon Macron; state law required trustees appoint a replacement within 30 days.
“Under the circumstances, it was painful to say the least, there was no way to do it sensitively,” Bowers said. “Time has passed, tell us what you think.”
Warchola said he is enjoying his time so far but had no real idea of the time commitment required to be a trustee until he was in office; both Bowers and Costello said they thought they spent on average over 20 hours a week between meetings and dealing with other issues that pop up.
To begin the meeting, Tara Powell was sworn in as the newest member of the Lafayette Fire Department. She will serve as an EMT.
The township will host an outdoor movie night Friday, Aug. 25 at Buckeye Woods Park starting at dusk. The exact movie is yet to be determined, but will be PG-rated. Trustees agreed to host the event the next day in the town hall lot in case of rain due to the park being booked for an event.