Trustees seek bids to expand fire station

Trustees will not expand their administration offices in South Range Plaza.
By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NORTH LIMA -- Beaver Township trustees are moving ahead with plans to build an addition to the township safety building.
At a special meeting earlier this week, the trustees agreed to advertise for bids for the construction of a proposed 8,500-square-foot structure that essentially would expand the current fire building, along West South Range Road, on the building's east side.
Township officials said the project could cost up to $800,000. Some of the cost could be covered by inheritance tax revenue the township is anticipating, officials said. Ron Faniro, the architect who designed the plans for the project, said the new structure would allow the fire department to have easier access to fire gear and rescue equipment.
Plans include the construction of a training tower. Officials said the fire department has outgrown the fire building and it needs more space to accommodate equipment, vehicles and personnel.
Other business
In other matters, the township will not be expanding its administration offices at South Range Plaza. Trustees Ron Kappler and Ted Lyda voted down a motion by Chairman Larry Wehr to rent additional space from local businessman Joe Dickey. The township pays Dickey $1,320 a month to rent office space at the plaza, located on South Avenue Extension.
Dickey had proposed tearing down a wall to expand the township administration office into the adjacent store front. The township would have been obligated to pay Dickey an additional $950 a month in rent for the first three years of the contract and up to a 10-percent increase the fourth and fifth years.
The township also would have been responsible for paying an estimated $13,500 to renovate the space and $15,000 to help relocate a hair salon that uses the space.
Kappler said he could not agree with the township's renting additional space, and he would like to see the money put into the construction of new, township-owned offices.
Lyda said he did not like feeling pressured to make a decision. Dickey had indicated he wanted the trustees to make a decision Monday.
Wehr said he was hoping to put off a new building project because there is a possibility the South Range School District might decide within the next few years to construct a new building -- a move that could provide the township an opportunity to buy the building the school district now uses for its elementary and high schools.