Dear Editor,<\/p>\n
Over the past nine months since being elected Chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners, I\u2019ve been hard at work on several projects your Fire District is working on to better serve our community. Perhaps the most important project is the capital project to replace Station 1 on Pennsylvania Avenue. I thought you might want to know the latest and I appreciate the opportunity to share our progress.<\/p>\n
Following the referendum voters approved in November 2015, the Building Committee and Commissioners have been hard at work executing on this project within the budget. Our engineering firm put forward a bid package to the local construction industry and in April 2016 the quotes were received. Unfortunately those quotes far exceeded the estimates the engineering firm had developed.<\/p>\n
The feedback from contractors was unanimous in that the site work required for 230 Pennsylvania Ave. was disproportionately large due to soil quality, topography, and modern building code compliance. Rather than ask the taxpayers for more money, the Building Committee went back to work to refine the scope and bring the project into budget.<\/p>\n
The Building Committee evaluated different building sites, different engineering firms, design changes, and funding options that could make this project affordable while still meeting the needs of the Fire District\u2019s mission. Our anticipated plan is to receive updated building plans for the new station to be built at the existing site of 230 Pennsylvania Ave. We anticipate these plans being finalized in the next few weeks, at which time they will go out to bid again in late October or November. Our goal is a signed contract before the end of the year with a firm to build the new station in 2017. You will also see the vacant house at 284 Pennsylvania Ave. that the District owns be demolished this month, the first publicly visible sign of the progress we are making.<\/p>\n
Finally, the Board will present our 2017 budget to you on Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. at Station 1. In this budget plan, the financing for the new station will be added and this will cause the district to exceed the two percent tax cap. Importantly though, the operational budget, which funds protective gear for firefighters, EMS supplies, and equipment like fire hoses and nozzles has remained within the tax cap limit despite continuing price inflation for required purchases. Your commissioners have worked very hard to be prudent stewards of your tax dollars and I feel the team I\u2019m privileged to lead has done an excellent job.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m grateful for the opportunity to share a brief update with you all. In the interim, I invite you to reach out via phone or email and I will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you have for the Fire District. We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. for the budget meeting and appreciate your continued support of the Fire District and your volunteer Fire Department.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Brian Rieber<\/p>\n
Chairman, Board of Fire Commissioners<\/p>\n
Chairman@apalachinfd.com<\/p>\n
(607) 765-2974<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Editor, Over the past nine months since being elected Chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners, I\u2019ve been hard at work on several projects…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters"],"yoast_head":"\n