For the last year and a half the Turkey Creek Fire Territory Board has been working on renovating Fire Station No. 1 in Syracuse. When the project went to bid, the amount approved for the renovation was $450,000. However, only one bid came in and it was much higher than anticipated at $669,000.

The fire territory board has been working with the contractor to bring the renovation budget down to the $450,000, but due to an oversite in the plans, a required sprinkler system and an increase in the cost of building materials, the renovation budget is now $541,000.

Last week the Syracuse Town Council attempted to rescind its approval of spending $450,000 on the renovation. Below are the viewpoints from Kim Cates, president of the Turkey Creek Fire Territory Board; councilman Paul Stoelting, Syracuse Town Council; and Dennis Darr, president of the Turkey Creek Township Advisory Board, regarding the problems surrounding the fire station renovation.

Misunderstandings, Miscommunication Standing
Between Fire Station Renovation Project

Kim Cates feels the problems between the fire territory board and the Syracuse Town Council regarding the renovation of Fire Station 1 boil down to miscommunication and misunderstanding. And, she says the delays caused by that miscommunication and misunderstanding will cost taxpayers more in the long run.

“Every month this is delayed it’s going to cost the taxpayers more,” she said. “I don’t understand why these people can’t communicate better. They’re intelligent people, they’re professional people.”

Cates is also concerned about the economic consequences town residents may face in the future. “For the taxpayer, the best thing is for everyone to work together. They’ll pay less tax. We need to focus on everybody’s strengths instead of focusing on a weakness,” she said.

She also wonders why there isn’t more communication between the town council and the fire territory board so there aren’t any misunderstanding when they have to vote on equipment or major projects such as renovating the fire station. She said she tries to listen to everyone and appreciate everyone’s point of view.

Cates began serving on the Turkey Creek Township Advisory Board in January when she was asked by Dennis Darr, advisory board president, to serve as president on the fire territory board. The fire territory board is made up of two members of the township advisory board, two members of the Syracuse Town Council and one neutral member both boards agree on.

By the time Cates joined the fire territory board the members had already toured the fire station, talked to the fire fighters about what was needed and had been working with DJ Construction on design plans.

She said she believes one contributing factor to the misunderstandings and miscommunication is there are many personality conflicts between various board members that date back 10 to 15 years that get in the way of the boards making logical choices.

Still, Cates said she was happy to serve on the fire territory board. “They are true to what they believe, that is a true attribute,” she said. “If you don’t use history, you’ll repeat it … But I think everyone votes their convictions.”

Town Council Member Explains
His Problem With Fire Station

Syracuse Town Councilman Paul Stoelting believes the budget for the fire territory has gone a bit overboard. “To see a 10-year budget that included a half million for building and equipment; I understand budgets need to be a bit of a wish list,” he said. “We’ll (the town council) argue about spending $1,500 on buying a computer and then 5 minutes on spending money for the fire territory.

“We’re not Warsaw, Goshen or whatever,” he continued. “It isn’t really needs, it’s wants.”

While Stoelting agrees having a 25-year-old fire truck isn’t a good idea either he said, “Part of the problem is the equipment is so expensive.”

Stoelting did not attend the December council meeting when his councilmates approved the $450,000 budget for the renovation. He said he thought purchasing a house located behind the station that was for sale around the same time would be a good idea. “I have no problem with the renovation if the house wouldn’t have worked,” he said, explaining that the council was not told why purchasing a house behind the station would not work.

During the August town council meeting the councilman Brian Woody, who serves on the fire territory board, asked to approve a new budget for the fire station renovation of $541,000 which includes adding a sprinkler system to the building. “I felt surprised,” Stoelting said. He felt the matter should have been listed on the agenda rather than under “New and Old Business” headings.

Stoelting also said he felt the council should have had information regarding the budget changes for the renovation prior to the meeting, although he noted council president Bill Musser, who also serves on the fire territory board, sent him information via email approximately 10 days prior to the meeting.

“It has nothing to do with the firemen,” Stoelting said of the problems between the town council and fire territory board. “It’s more from the administration of this. There are communication issues and I don’t know how to make them better.” He said he wasn’t sure what is needed to fix the situation with the township. “What we need is a communications director,” he suggested.

During the town council meeting it was also asked why Syracuse Fire Chief Mickey Scott wasn’t present to make the presentation on the renovation. “If you were Mickey, would you come before the town council and have tomatoes thrown at you?” Stoelting asked, referring to previous meetings when Scott did attend to make a presentation and was verbally attacked by members of the town council.

Stoelting suggested Cates may be a good person to make the presentations. Cates joined the township advisory and fire territory boards in January and “has no axe to grind.” Stoelting said the council just wants an explanation as to why a recommendation should be accepted, rather than being handed a “take it or leave it situation” which he said was how the most recent decision regarding the renovation was presented.

And while not a fan of special meetings, Stoelting said that may be one way to have an explanation of the situation and vote on it if there isn’t time in a regular monthly council meeting.

Township Advisory President Says Council
‘Doesn’t Want To Spend Money’

Dennis Darr, president of the Turkey Creek Township Advisory Board, said about the controversy, “It resolved itself last night since they voted it through (see story),” referring to a special fire territory board meeting held Monday night.

Darr blamed the delays on the renovation squarely on the Syracuse Town Council. “They don’t want to spend any money at all … We’re needing a new fire station, that was supposed to be done last year and they have procrastinated so long that it’s cost more,” he said. “They’re up against their spending cap and they think if they cut our budget they’ll reap the benefits.”

Darr said he sees fire and police as the most important services tax payers pay for. “They’re on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 a year. No other entity is like that,” he explained.

“The old fire station was designed in 1960 and they had the forsight to (prepare it) for a second floor,” he said. He guessed building a new station would cost between $1 million and $2 million. Considering those numbers, Darr saw the $669,000 bid for the renovation as a compromise to spending more on a new station.

The fire territory has collected $845,000 for the renovation. “If we can save money, great, but it was collected for the fire station,” Darr said.

To fix the problem, Darr believes the representation on the fire territory board needs to be changed. Noting 86 percent of the funds collected for the fire territory comes from Turkey Creek Township, Darr believes the fire territory board should be made up of three representatives from the township, one neutral party selected by the township and one representative from the Syracuse Town Council.

Darr said the current five member board, with two representatives from the township advisory board, two members from the town council and a neutral party isn’t working. “To me that would be fair,” he said about his suggested change to the board’s make up.

Darr said he came onto the fire territory board as a fifth member. At the time there weren’t so many negotiations and upheaval. He will be making a recommendation to change the make up of the fire territory board before the end of the year. If it’s voted down, “We’ll go to plan B,” Darr said. “They (the council) have to see pretty soon that something needs to be done. They make it a lot harder than it needs to be.”

When he was asked if he expected the town council to just approve what the fire territory board recommended without asking any questions, Darr said the council asks the same questions over and over, even after they are answered.

According to Darr, the fire station renovation project has dragged out a year and a half and the fire territory board went with a quote of $450,000 based on a recommendation by DJ Construction, which did all the drawings for the project. Then DJ Construction didn’t bid on the project, although there was an assumption by members of both the fire territory board and township advisory board it was planning too.

“They said they were too busy to make a bid. Why no one else bid on it, I don’t know. We got a good guy from Allen County to work with,” Darr said.