Boyceville fire board approves sending plans for new fire station to state for review
By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — Members of the Boyceville Community Fire District Board have approved sending architectural plans for a new fire station to the state of Wisconsin for review.
Dave Cihasky, an architect with Five Bugles Design, reviewed the plans with the fire board at the April 11 meeting.
Submitting the plans by May 1 will work in the Boyceville fire district’s favor because additional energy efficiency requirements will go into effect May 1, Cihasky said.
The requirements, related to energy performance standards, will include more insulation and more air exchangers, he said.
The additional requirements are expected to add 10 to 15 percent to the cost of the project, Cihasky said.
Boyceville’s proposed new fire station is designed now to the existing code, he said.
Submitting the plans before May 1 would be expected to keep the cost of the new station below $1.5 million since the cost is currently estimated at $1.4 million, Cihasky said.
Several fire board members wondered how the fire station ended up at $1.4 million.
The Boyceville fire board set a budget of $1 million for the new fire station in May of 2017.
“I never said it would be less than $1.5 million,” Cihasky said.
The fire board will not know the actual cost until the project is bid, noted Gilbert Krueger, Boyceville village president and chair of the fire board.
If the new fire station is going to be built this year, Boyceville is at the “last level of being competitive” in the bidding process, Cihasky said, pointing out that contractors are already lining up work for the year.
Cihasky noted the Boyceville fire board has been talking about building a new fire station for several years.
“Sooner or later, you need to pull the plug and make a decision,” he said.
At this point, while there are plans for the building, there are no plans for site design, Cihasky said.
The cost of site design to submit with the building plans would be about $4,000, he said.
The Boyceville fire board unanimously approved spending up to $4,000 for site design to be completed in conjunction with Five Bugles Design to meet the May 1 deadline for submitting the plans to the state.
The municipalities in the fire district include the villages of Wheeler and Boyceville along with the Towns of Hay River, New Haven, Stanton, Tiffany and Sherman.
The village of Wheeler did not have any representation at the April 11 meeting.
Civil engineers
Formal site design will include options for the street to the reach the new fire station on a four-acre lot directly south of the airport.
The Boyceville Village Board approved selling the lot to the fire district earlier this year for $16,000.
Cihasky said he needed authorization from the fire board to obtain proposals from three or four civil engineers.
Ned Hahn, representative for the Town of Hay River, wondered how long it would take to hear from the state about the plans for a new fire station.
The state right now is backed up out to June 3, Cihasky said.
The Boyceville Community Fire District Board unanimously approved a motion to proceed with civil engineers for the site design.
Lot
Although the village board previously approved selling the four-acre lot next to the airport for $16,000 to the fire district, the fire board had not yet accepted the offer.
The Boyceville Community Fire District Board unanimously approved a motion to purchase the land from the village at a cost of $16,000, contingent upon the fire hall being built.
Representatives for the Village of Boyceville abstained from voting on the motion.
The next meeting of the Boyceville Community Fire District Board will be held May 16 immediately following the Boyceville Community Ambulance District meeting at 6:30 p.m.
