No longer will the site for Addison Township’s new 13,968-square-foot firehall, located in the Village of Leonard, along Rochester Rd., look like a big boy’s sand box.
Instead, crews will soon be moving to begin installing the footings and foundation for the large building.
“We don’t have a final construction schedule yet, but I expect to get one this week before they begin work,” said Addison Township Fire Chief George Spencer.
So far crews with Schonsheck Inc. have completed between 75 and 80 percent of the earthwork and underground utilities since beginning on October 7.
However, workers did hit one snag that cost the township more money than allotted for this portion of the project.
Schonsheck contacted township officials with a change order requesting $13,000 for approximately 2,000-cubic-yards more fill.
The original contract called for only 2,000-cubic-yards period.
Addison Township board trustees were not surprised by the request and approved the amount to include not only the fill, but also the delivery, compacting and leveling.
“We knew that this would be an issue when we purchased this site,” said Spencer. “We just didn’t know the extent at that time. We went ahead with the property because it had so many other advantages that we were looking for.”
The township board also approved the financing for the $1.3 million building.
Township Treasurer Dan Alberty presented four different interest rate bids for the $850,000 loan requested by the municipality: Bank One came in at 3.78 percent, Flag Star at 4.25 percent, Fifth-Third at 3.98 percent and Oxford Bank at 3.495 percent.
“I asked Oxford Bank why they were so low and was told it is because the township holds other accounts and does other business with them. The hope is to basically keep our business and such,” explained Alberty. “However, this does not mean that we have to stay with them or do any other business with them.”
The board voted unanimously to go with Oxford Bank and the check for the project arrived this past week. The loan amount for constructing the building is smaller than the actual price tag because of monies already available through the fire department’s capitol funds.
Coming to this point in the project has not been an easy task for township officials. The fire department’s original goal was to be on the property by this month; however, having to make over $300,000 in cutbacks to the original designs delayed the construction by about three months.
Chief Spencer said he hopes now to occupy the firehall this coming May. “My personnel here are ready to get in there,” he stated. “How can I say it – they’re almost giddy about it.”