Boyceville fire district’s 5-year planning committee gives go-ahead to 5 Bugles Design

By LeAnn R. Ralph

BOYCEVILLE  —  The Boyceville Fire District’s Five-Year Capital Improvement and Planning Committee has given the go-ahead to Five Bugles Design to begin planning a new fire station.

The five-year planning committee met with David Chihasky of Five Bugles Design September 23.

At the last meeting of the fire district September 16, members approved hiring an architect to design a new fire station and approved Five Bugles Design as the architect, said Rich Monn, chair of the Town of Stanton and chair of the five-year planning committee.

When Five Bugles has completed the design, the five-year planning committee will plan to meet with Five Bugles again to review the plans and submit them to the fire district board at the next meeting October 14, Monn said.

The first step will be to meet with the firefighters to find out what they need in a new fire station, Chihasky said.

The Boyceville fire department’s existing fire station is 5,000 square feet, and the work Five Bugles did in the past year or two identified the need for a new fire station of around 10,000 square feet, he said, noting that a 10,000 square foot station would be the smallest of the proposals.

In addition to identifying the needs of the fire department, the fire district will have to set a budget for the project, Chihasky said.

Many members of the fire district are concerned about a specific dollar amount to bring back to their boards and to their residents, Monn said.

Now would be a good time to design a fire station. If the design is completed by January 1, then the project can be advertised for bids in January and February, Chihasky said.

Projections show that while material costs are going to remain relatively stable, labor costs are going to increase, he said.

“We need to get a number to take back,” Monn said.

Representatives on the fire board will be looking for a cost per $100,000 of property value to take back to their boards and to their residents, said Ned Hahn, a member of the five-year planning committee and a supervisor on the Hay River Town Board.

After a budget is established, Five Bugles will design a fire station that is based on a “not to exceed” cost, Chihasky said.

No matter what budget is established for the fire station — $1 million, $1.75 million, $2 million — the building will be designed to not exceed the budgeted cost, he said.

Chihasky said Five Bugles would design a building that would last the fire department for 50 or 60 years.

Based on conversations with representatives of Bremer Bank, and based on current interest rates, a $1 million building would cost about $40 per year per $100,000 of property value, Monn said.

Capping the cost of the fire station at a certain amount “tells taxpayers their taxes will not go up more than this amount,” Chihasky said.

Breaking down the cost on a per $100,000 of property value basis is more meaningful for fire district residents than saying the fire station will cost, say, $2 million, Monn said, noting that a total cost often makes people say, “we can’t afford it.”

“But if you say it’s this amount per $100,000, then people calm down,” he said.

Brian Marlette, Boyceville fire chief, and members of the firefighters’ building committee, also attended the five-year planning committee.

Chihasky said he would have time to talk to the firefighters following the five-year planning committee meeting if the firefighters wanted to meet with him.

After the five-year planning committee meeting adjourned, Chihasky sat down with the firefighters to begin discussing what they would need in a new fire station.