Joey Oliver
mlive.com
(TNS)
BAY CITY, MI – Commissioners next week are expected to vote on a resolution that would call on the city manager to put together a timeline for having a defunct fire station on the city’s West Side repaired so it can reopen.
Bay City Commissioners are expected to vote Monday, May 19, on a resolution put forth previously by Commissioner Joe Charlebois, 8th Ward, that would apply a target timeline and deadline to obtain bids and potential funding sources for repairs at Bay City’s Fire Station 5.
The meeting, which can be livestreamed here, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. The agenda can be viewed here.
Related: Timeline to be made for when Fire Station 5 will be repaired
Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution requiring City Manager Dana Muscott to obtain bids and potential funding sources for repairs to the roof and interior of Station 5 on March 3.
Muscott previously did not provide an approximate timeline for the steps, but said some of them would take several weeks to begin.
In his updated resolution, Charlebois wrote that “target dates and a subsequent deadline will solidify this requirement and allow the city, the public safety committee and the commission as a whole to have an accurate understanding of the extent of the costs and potential funding sources available to properly maintain the building.”
The timeline laid out for commissioners includes requesting proposals from engineers and contractors, a process expected to be wrapped up by Nov. 7.
Once that step is done, the city can invite bids for the project. This would take until January 2026.
Read more: Here’s what Bay City officials say it would take to reopen Fire Station 5
Fire Station 5, built in 1965, closed on July 15, leaving the city with two fire stations on the east side of the river and one on the city’s West Side.
The closure was due, in part, to the poor conditions the building is in, officials said previously. It also comes down to money.
Officials previously said it would cost more than $386,000 in renovation and repairs to reopen Fire Station 5 in Bay City’s Banks District, and the price of adding personnel to staff the station would cost the city more than twice that number.
Bay City Department of Public Safety Director Caleb Rowell previously told city commissioners it would cost the city a projected $386,318 for high- and medium-priority repairs on Fire Station 5, 1299 Smith St., and adding the personnel to reopen the fire station would cost the city approximately $1.6 million the first year. That cost would increase to about $2 million by year three.
More: Plagued by black mold and pungent odor, Bay City fire station’s future is uncertain
Prioritizing maintenance projects means some get done while others cannot. Other fire stations in the city have their own infrastructure issues, and one of them has problems with PFAS con