Boyceville fire board narrows list of architects to two for new fire station
By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — The Boyceville Community Fire District Board has agreed to invite two of the four architects who submitted proposals for designing a new fire station to make presentations to the full board.
Based on a recommendation from the Five Year Planning and Capital Improvement Committee, the Boyceville fire board agreed at the November 16 meeting to invite Cedar Corporation and Five Bugles Design to make presentations at the December 7 meeting.
The five-year planning committee met with four architectural firms during a closed session November 2.
Ratsch Engineering submitted a bid amount of $84,000 for designing a new fire station.
Five Bugles Design submitted a bid amount of $101,500.
Short Elliott Hendrickson submitted a bid amount of $174,000.
Cedar Corporation submitted a bid amount of $119,750.
Although the bid amounts had already been published in the Tribune Press Reporter prior to the closed session on November 2, Monn told fire board members at the November 16 meeting that the RFPs had been presented in closed session at the request of two of the architectural firms.
The five-year planning committee eliminated Ratsch Engineering from consideration because “we did not think Ratsch had a good presentation,” Monn said.
SEH also was eliminated from consideration because the bid amount on the RFP was about $50,000 more than the next lowest bid, he said.
Mike Blechinger, representative for the Town of Tiffany and a member of the five-year planning committee, recommended taking a closer look at Five Bugles Design.
Five Bugles has more experience building fire stations than Cedar Corporation, he said.
Five Bugles focuses on designing fire stations, EMS stations and municipal halls that are often in combination with a fire station and EMS station, Blechinger said.
“We should compare apples to apples now that the oranges are out of the bunch,” he said.
Both Cedar Corp and Five Bugles representatives said they would be willing to attend public informational meetings, Blechinger said.
Ned Hahn, representative for the Town of Hay River and a member of the five-year planning committee, said he would feel better if the entire fire board heard the presentations.
Knowing what is specifically included in the RFP is critical for fire board members so they can take an accurate number back to their town boards to obtain authorization for moving forward with building a new fire station.
The RFPs are based on building a 13,000 square-foot fire station.
Estimates for building a new fire station have ranged from $1 million to nearly $3 million.
The Boyceville Community Fire District Board unanimously approved a motion to invite Cedar Corporation and Five Bugles Design for another presentation before the full board on December 7.
Although the Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board has always met immediately following the fire board, members of the fire board agreed that the ambulance district board should meet at 6:30 p.m. December 7 since it would be difficult to know how long it would take for the presentations of the the two architectural firms.
Fire board members agreed that one of the companies should plan on presenting at 7 p.m. and the other should plan on presenting at 7:30 p.m.
The presentations will occur in closed session.
The Boyceville Community Fire District Board also approved a motion that architectural fees should be paid out of the fire district’s general fund with the stipulation that those funds be paid back at a later date.
Before a new fire station can be built in Boyceville, each of the municipalities in the fire district will have to approve the project. If one municipality turns it down, the project cannot go forward.
As of November 16, the fire district’s general fund account contained approximately $250,000.
Municipalities that are part of the Boyceville Community Fire District are the Towns of Hay River, New Haven, Stanton, Tiffany and Sherman, along with the villages of Boyceville and Wheeler.
