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City staff to prepare cost estimates and pursue PFA funding; fire hall to be priority if only one application allowed
Summary
City staff will prepare preliminary cost estimates and project scopes for a new fire hall and water/stormwater projects to present in April. If the funding agency allows only one application, staff and council agreed to prioritize a new fire hall while keeping water and stormwater projects on the planning list.
City staff told the council they will prepare preliminary cost estimates and project scopes so the city can apply for state funding through PFA and position water and stormwater projects on the PPL for future funding.
A staff member said the city may be able to submit two separate applications but warned that funders often award only one project per applicant. "I'm going to have to make stuff up — not make things up, but do some educated guesses," the staff member said, describing the need to use assumptions to build a timely base estimate and then refine plans if funding is secured.
Council members described both the fire hall and water projects as high priorities. A council member said the new fire hall has "become a need rather than a want" and urged that it be prioritized if the city can submit only a single application.
Staff requested equipment lists and facility details — including apparatus inventories (ladder truck, grass rigs, tankers) and specialty items such as turnout-gear dryers — to size bays and program spaces accurately. Staff said proposed OSHA changes could increase training needs and that a meeting room in a new fire hall could serve overlapping training schedules.
On water and stormwater work, staff urged the council to get certain projects design-certified and placed on the PPL so they would be eligible for PFA funding in 2026. Staff described a planned water-main project currently scoped as one block of cast-iron replacement but said it could be amended to a larger, six-block section to reduce repeated construction impacts on neighboring residents.
Staff warned that standalone stormwater grant dollars are "very competitive" and limited, and described a strategy of pairing grant-funded mobilization with loan-funded construction to bring contractors on site while reducing the city's loan burden. "It's kind of how we interlay some loan and grant dollars to bring that burden down," a staff member said.
The group also discussed a suspected copper/lead issue on Elm Avenue; staff said they downgraded its priority because prior work on homes there made a lead service line less likely. To inform treatment planning, staff will send a filter-media sample to Red Flint laboratory for analysis and asked the council to approve sending the sample and covering the testing cost.
Staff said they can prepare task orders for full engineering services (preliminary and final design, bidding and construction) and requested authorization to present estimates and task orders to the council in April. If the council prefers, staff said they will submit the fire hall application as the city's single application and keep other projects ready for the next funding cycle.
A council member asked who to contact with questions about the fire department plans; staff identified John Thompson as the person who has the department's drawings and said Thompson could be contacted for details. The council did not take formal votes during the discussion and staff framed the next step as preparing cost estimates and project scopes for council review in April.
