After years of study, the town of Minocqua will have a new fire station to replace its main station in use since the early 1970s. At a special meeting of town electors Thursday attended by several Minocqua firefighters, voters approved the station's construction, 63-0, on land the town purchased next to the Minocqua chamber of commerce office last fall.
The structure is to cost no more than $3.4 million and town officials are hopeful the bids come in less than that.
The $3.4 million figure doesn't include the $375,000 the town paid for the four acres the station will sit on, four acres Minocqua fire chief Andy Petrowski said could be used for other town buildings in another 10 to 15 years if that was the way the town board chose to go.
During the course of his presentation, Petrowski said that $3.4 million will get a good, basic building that will be expected to last several decades.
Another $150,000 would be used to furnish the building but would not be part of the price approved by voters.
Those funds, Petrowski said, would come from the fire department itself.
Town chairman Mark Hartzheim said among the features of the approximately 14,000 square foot fire station will be a fourth equipment bay to allow for any future truck or vehicle purchase by the town for the department, a 150 kilowatt natural gas generator that would have the capability to provide backup power to the entire facility in the event of an emergency and a heated floor in the equipment bays.
"I thank the committee ... they spent a lot of time on this," he said. "I think I went to all of their meetings on this and they've spent a lot of time and put a lot of thought into this."
Hartzheim said he believes everyone recognizes a new building is needed.
"That (old fire station) served us well for over 40 years as a temporary facility," he said. "This thing we're looking at should last us 80 to 100 years."