By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
SUAMICO – A construction manager has been selected to build a new Suamico fire station, but how that service will be paid for has yet to be finalized.
The Suamico village board voted 5-1 Monday, Sept. 16, to approve the proposal from Zeise Construction of Green Bay to provide construction management services for the Fire Station No. 1 project at a cost not to exceed $408,336.
Trustee Michelle Eckert cast the lone dissenting vote, while Village President Laura Nelson was absent.
Village Administrator Alex Kaker said Zeise’s proposal was the lowest of the four firms to submit a construction management bid.
Zeise’s proposal is based on the assumption the project will cost $5 million-$6 million for a facility between 23,460-29,860 square feet.
Kaker said the Fire Station Review Committee recommended Zeise after interviewing the firm and conducting reference checks.
“(Zeise’s) primary functions will be to help us through the design process, and they’ll be giving us the cost estimates as we go through that process,” he said. “They’ll also be the ones who are on site every second of construction, making sure things are done the way they’re supposed to.”
The new fire station is planned to be built on a 1.9-acre site at the intersection of Deerfield Lane and Riverside Drive.
Board members spent much of their discussion about awarding Zeise the construction management contract on where the money would come from to pay the firm.
When Kaker and Finance Director Jessica Legois noted debt service as part of a 20-year building bond could be used for that purpose, Eckert suggested using other revenues sources, for which the village wouldn’t have to borrow money.
“We’re just automatically borrowing, and I’m not good with that,” Eckert said.
The board previously approved paying for the architectural work being done by Five Bugles Design out of the village’s Debt Stabilization fund at a cost not to exceed $288,500.
Kaker said how the construction management services would be paid for could be discussed as part of putting together the 2020 village budget.
“We wouldn’t incur all that amount in 2019,” he said. “In fact, we won’t incur much of any costs in 2019 for construction management services… The bulk of the payments of this project for the construction management services will be in 2020, so we still have to go through our budgeting process.”
Legois said the village will have about $433,000 left in the stadium tax fund after paying for a new salt storage shed.
Trustee Sky Van Rossum said he didn’t want to use all the remaining stadium tax dollars on a new fire station.
Van Rossum said the village’s three funding options for the fire station project include money from possible future wetland mitigation credits, stadium tax dollars or borrowing.
“We know that the budget sources are out there,” he said. “I do not want to cast a motion tonight that says we are going to borrow for this without looking at all of the options that are out there, not for this portion of it.”
Trustee Dan Roddan said the village won’t be able to pay cash to build a new Suamico fire station.
“There’s no doubt that we need a new fire station,” Roddan said. “There’s no doubt that we’re going to have to eventually borrow for some of it.”
County Rescue
In a related motion, the board also voted 5-1 to design the fire station with a finished second floor living quarters, leaving an approximately 6,000-square-foot footprint for a potential future emergency medical services wing.
The board also directed staff to draft a memorandum of understanding with County Rescue to lease a to-be-determined area of the new fire station.
Eckert was again the lone dissenter.
“The whole project could be done cheaper and fit on the property nicely as just a fire station,” she said. “I don’t think we should be waiting in the wings to take this (EMS) over. I think that a private company is handling it is a good thing. I don’t think we should build a building for it, period.”
Kaker said County Rescue, the current EMS provider in the village, has expressed an interest in providing services out of the new fire station with a lease agreement and selling its existing building in Suamico.
“By having EMS facilities at this location, it will provide you flexibility in the future, in the event that County Rescue or another entity can no longer provide the service,” he said. “So it is possible that at some point the village is going to actually have to take over EMS services.”
Kaker said the sale of County Rescue’s current facility in Suamico to a taxing entity would result in additional property taxes to the village.
Trustees decided not to build the wing at this time because the estimated $1.5 million cost would place the overall project cost above $6 million.
To keep the overall cost below $6 million, Kaker said the Fire Station Review Committee favored leaving the footprint for an EMS wing for possible later construction, if needed, but work with County Rescue for it to use the second floor and a bay in the new fire station.
Chris Gabryszek, the director of County Rescue who is also Suamico’s assistant fire chief, was on hand for the board meeting.
Gabryszek said County Rescue would be interested in leasing a portion of the new fire station, similar to the lease arrangement it has with the Village of Howard.