Saturday, October 5, 2024
By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
SUAMICO – Heated words were exchanged at the Monday, Aug. 5, village board meeting when the person who circulated a flyer in Suamico opposing plans to build a new Fire Station No. 1 showed up to speak.
Ben Schenkelberg, a local architect whose flyer titled “New Fire Station – STOP THE PROJECT SCAM” criticizes plans to locate the station on a 1.9-acre site at the intersection of Deerfield Lane and Riverside Drive, was back before the board to ask questions about the project.
Schenkelberg had been interested in bidding on the architectural work, which village board agreed in June to award the contract to Five Bugles Design at a cost not to exceed $288,500.
The board voted Monday to finance the architectural contract out of the village’s Debt Stabilization fund.
Village Administrator Alex Kaker said an American Institute of Architects (AIA) contract with Five Bugles should be signed this week.
Five Bugles previously put together a feasibility study for the village at a cost of $11,500 to look into the possible construction of a new public safety building at the project site.
The firm found the site location adjacent to Interstate 41, near Vickery Village, as being well-suited for response times.
However, based on size constraints, Five Bugles recommended only using the site for the fire department and emergency medical service, for which the firm concluded the site for that type of facility would be adequate for 50 years.
Based on as much as $300,000 possibly going to the Five Bugles for its work related to building a new fire station, Schenkelberg said the lack of specificity in the drawings the company provided for the project showed what it was doing for the village wouldn’t warrant receiving a 6 percent fee if the project would cost $5 million.
Ben Schenkelberg, who circulated a flyer opposing plans for a new Fire Station No. 1 in Suamico, speaks Monday, Aug. 5, before the village board to express this concerns about the project.“You really don’t have a drawing,” he said. “You’ve got a diagram that you’re going to have to sit down with them to decide what you’re going to do. There’s a big discussion about, ‘Do we need a room this big for training?’”
The flyer Schenkelberg circulated said the following about training, “The greedy Fire Department wants a training facility when seven miles down the road at NWTC they offer accredited training used by most local departments.”
Village President Laura Nelson took exception with Schenkelberg’s statement about training by stating it would cost a minimum of $24,000 a year for the fire department to train at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, along with having firefighters away from the station for training in the event there would be a fire call.
“That’s one of the things you neglected to put in your flyer, the cost to train at NWTC…,” Nelson said. “Are you going to put together a permanent endowment to fund our firefighters to train over there, and what if it’s your house that they need to respond to and a call comes in? I’m not willing to risk my children, if it’s my house (on fire).”
In response, Schenkelberg suggested the possibility of Suamico joining the Village of Howard for joint fire coverage.
“We’ve got joint police coverage, why can’t we have joint fire station coverage?” said Schenkelberg in reference to Howard and Suamico contracting with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office for police coverage in their respective villages.
Trustee Dan Roddan also had words for Schenkelberg, calling the flyer he circulated a “fricking joke” that disrespects those involved in the process looking into building a new fire station in the village.
When Schenkelberg suggested the board ask Five Bugles for some money back on the feasibility study, which included drawings of the project site, Roddan said the board asked for those drawings to be included.
“I told (retired Village Administrator Steve) Kubacki that the fire station should be looked at, ambulance services and police,” Roddan said. “Everybody on this board heard me. That’s exactly what I said. So, if you want to point a finger, point it at me, Ben. I asked for it, and you know what, the company provided me the information.”
Trustee Sky Van Rossum said he was frustrated with Schenkelberg’s remarks made in the flyer and before the board, which had a “lot of editorializing” and an “absence of facts.”
“I don’t think that keeping this going in a public forum like this – continually rehashing and editorializing and opinions being offered – is doing anybody any good,” Van Rossum said.
He suggested comparing Schenkelberg’s comments to facts and data related to the planned new fire station that the village has on its website, information which is available for those who request paper copies.
Schenkelberg, who has criticized the process leading to the board selecting Five Bugles as the architect, said the criteria for bidding on the architectural work blocked other firms from bidding with “three firms bidding and two of firms knew each other.”
“You’re paying way too much money,” he said. “You can’t and I can’t, or that group back there and there’s a lot more that can’t afford this much architecture.”
Nelson also took exception with Schenkelberg having claimed the project will cost $6 million, noting that’s a high number with the actually cost yet to be determined.
“We’re not shooting for $6 million,” Nelson said. “We’re shooting for something much smaller, and if you will go to our website, you’ll see we’re looking at anything from $4 million to $6 million. We’re not unrealistic that it could cost $6 million, but we’re hoping that it will only cost something on the low side.”
Nelson said the project drawings have yet to be completed by Five Bugles to include the elements that will be part of the fire station.
“They’re going to give us what we ask them to give us, not what they think is appropriate for us,” she said.
Another Suamico resident, Joan Mutz, spoke during the public forum portion of the meeting and criticized the site planned for the new Fire Station No. 1 as being a “very, very unsafe location.”
“The present location of the fire station is much safer than the location that the proposal is going to be,” she said.
When Mutz questioned the common sense for locating a new fire station there, Brown County Sheriff’s Officer Deputy Jim Kowalkowski, who has been on the committee involved in the process to build a new fire station, took exception with comments made in opposition to the project.
“I’d like to address a lot of issues, but obviously I’m working right now, and I have to be careful what I say representing the sheriff’s department,” Kowalkowski said. “I’m very disappointed, very disappointed… I’ve have never been on a committee with more talent, expertise and knowledge. When you say a lack of common sense, that’s an insult to me. I take it personally.”
Kowalkowski said he disagreed with Schenkelberg's comments, also noting the sheriff’s department would be happy with whatever facilities the village would provide.
“You guys contract for the bodies (for law enforcement in the village),” he said. “You provide the equipment, you guys provide the building, and we’re mobile.”
Kowalkowski said he considers it a privilege to be a part of the committee, which looked into having a new facility that would serve the village’s needs for the next 50 years.
“I trust these people that I’ve got to work with everyday,” he said. “They’ve got my back. I’ve got their back. They know what they need. They know what they’re talking about.”
Kowalkowski said the committee held a special meeting on behalf of Schenkelberg, whom the committee members asked him to work with them on the project.
“I will be back without a uniform on, and I will respond to a lot of things, because I take this personally,” Kowalkowski said. “I spent a lot of years doing what I’m doing to get where I’m at. I don’t know all the answers, I’ll tell you that, but what you guys are doing is disrespectful and a disservice to this village and these citizens.”
Construction manager
During the discussion about the project, Kaker said the village received four bids from companies interested in being the construction manager for Fire Station No. 1.
The board went into closed session at the end of the meeting regarding the construction management proposals, but Kaker said no action was taken.
