Currently, male EMS staff members sleep four to a room, which measures approximately 13 feet by 13 feet. Female staffers sleep three to a room in bedrooms with the same amount of space. Closets are crowded and nearly filled to capacity. Moisture has infiltrated the building. Floors are uneven, and there are cracks in the stucco exterior.

In September 2015, Miami County commissioners agreed to seek proposals to design and build an expansion to the existing building, which would add another 750 square feet. The added space was intended for adequate sleeping quarters, living space, added storage and enough room for an office. Officials set aside $80,000 for the project.

The plan was put on hold, though, when bids came in much higher than the budgeted amount. The bids ranged from $151,200 to $434,640.

The commissioners agreed to encumber the $80,000 for the project and continue adding funds in the future until enough revenue is available.

The Fire Department has been without a ladder truck for close to six weeks as both the front-line and the reserve trucks were taken out of service.

 

The council is now being asked to increase a capital request from $600,000 to $800,000 to purchase a 2014 Pierce Manufacturing Co. 100-foot aerial ladder truck, which the department had found available. The money is coming from a separate allocation for design work for a new police station, reducing that from $250,000 to $50,000.

 

"That amount includes a two-year warranty, paint and lettering of our choice, and miscellaneous equipment and ground ladders. Additional benefits include the almost immediate delivery of this unit and it shares many common components with our Tower-1," Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski wrote in a note to the council.

 

The city had two ladder trucks, Tower-1 and Truck-2. Truck-2 is a 1994 Spartan/Darley pumper and was the front-line vehicle for 15 years. In 2009 the city received a federal grant to purchase a brand new Pierce ladder truck - Tower-1. Truck-2 then became the backup and has been in and out of the shop for a while. Just short of two years ago it had failed an emissions test and needed repairs. 

 

In February of last year, consultants called for Truck-2 to be fully removed from service in 2019 and Tower-1 would serve as the reserve.

 

"Truck 2 is twenty years old and in very poor condition and therefore is not a safe and reliable apparatus to be utilized as either a reserve or front line apparatus. In order to properly space out new apparatus purchases, this vehicle, unfortunately, must remain in the fleet for several more years until a new aerial ladder is placed into service during 2019," the consultants wrote.