ASHLAND – The City of Ashland has hired an architect as a consultant to begin planning for a potential second fire station on the south side of town.
Last year, University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center donated a piece of land at Mifflin Avenue and U.S. 42 to the city for the construction of a new satellite fire station. The Samaritan Hospital Foundation also pledged a $300,000 donation to purchase a fire truck for the new station. The gifts came with a caveat that the station must be built within five years.
“Now it’s time to have the serious discussion about just what needs to go into such a station station. What is the need? What expense are we looking at? And so on,” mayor Matt Miller told city council members Tuesday.
Fire chief Rick Anderson told council members he and the mayor recently signed a contract with Mull & Weithman Architects of Columbus.
“They’ll come in and talk to us at the fire department, talk to elected officials, talk to the public and figure out what will best suit us at that location,” Anderson said. “Then they will put together a rendering and put a square-foot dollar amount to that project to give us something to look at and see if it fits our needs and our budget.”
Miller said the cost of the architect’s feasibility study is $20,275.
Miller also announced that last week he met with the law director, city engineer, city utilities director and finance director to begin planning to extend city utilities across Interstate 71 to the area near Grandpa’s Cheesebarn, Fin Feather Fur Outfitters and some vacant parcels with potential for development.
The mayor said it’s not out of the question that the city could begin construction by the end of the year.
“We still have to work on the finances, but I know that (finance director Larry) Paxton brought some good ideas to the table, him and (utilities director) Mike Hunter, and of course we’ve got a number of legal matters we need to clear with the law director, but these folks are telling me they think if we stick with it we should be able to move on that fairly quickly,” Miller said.
Paxton told council members and members of the public present at the meeting that a draft of 2018 appropriations is available for review on the city’s website. After a public hearing regarding the allocations, city council will be asked to approve the appropriations by the end of February.
The mayor said he and Paxton are beginning the budgeting process by “holding the line” in each area, giving each department the same amount of money they received in 2017 with the exception of approved increases in salary and wages. From there, Miller will meet with each department head about any additional requests and then will provide a second draft to council and the public.
Council voted 3-0 Tuesday to move its regular meetings from the council chambers in the municipal building to the Ashland City Schools administrative offices at 1407 Claremont Ave. starting in February. Council member Bob Valentine abstained from the vote after expressing his opinion that the council should not move its meetings.
“I guess I’m old-school,” Valentine said. “This is council chambers. This is a council meeting. We already have one and there’s plenty of seating. I just don’t feel we should spend, even if it’s $1,500 of taxpayer money, when we don’t even know what our budget is and how tight it’s going to be.”
The other three council members, along will Miller, all agreed the move would be beneficial for the city because it would allow them to televise meetings with the proper equipment and with help from the Ashland High School students who already televise school board meetings.
They also said the school district’s conference room has better lighting and technology than the city’s council chambers and is more accessible for individuals with disabilities.
“When Bob (Valentine) and I were talking preliminarily, I think he mentioned, ‘Where’s it going to be next? The fire station? Police station? The Library? The Kroc Center?'” council president Steve Workman said. “Well, maybe that’s not a bad idea. Take the council to the people. Sounds pretty good to me.”
Miller said the move will cost the city about $25 an hour or about $1,500 a year. The fee will go to paying a school district staff member to oversee the students who will televise the meetings.
Miller praised the street department for what he called a successful snow removal effort over the weekend, and city services director Jerry Mack said he plans to begin filling potholes as soon as Ashland sees a period of dry weather.
During the public participation portion of the meeting, local resident and pastor at Come Alive Community Church Andrew Foster outlined some areas he would like to see city focus on in 2018.
In the area of economic development, Foster said he would like to see the city fostering growth and expansion of local business rather than placing emphasis on bringing outside businesses into town. This, he suggested, would keep more money in the local economy.
Foster said he would also like to see removal of blight and introduction of new green spaces or community gardens in the city. He added that he has heard complaints from renters about “slumlord” landlords and the condition of rental properties.
“Finally, to come up with some method of encouraging our citizens to become involved in Ashland and to realize the success of Ashland is dependent on their success and their success is dependent on Ashland’s success,” Foster said. “If you start to look at these things going forward, I think it will create a better place. It will create more opportunities… We will be empowering our people to move forward.”
