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Lansing Fire Commissioners say that a new fire station planned for the Village of Lansing will be put on hold for now.  The Oakcrest Road Station 5 was built in 1972, and is now too small for the new generation of fire trucks and equipment.  Fire District officials have been negotiating with the Village to decide where a new, larger firehouse could be built.  But the estimated cost of nearly $4 million to build the new station is almost twice as much as estimated.

"We're going to pursue the addition at Central Station, because more of the members of the Fire Department are here," says Commissioner Jeff Walters.  "There is only one member down at Station 5.  So instead of burdening tax dollars to buy land and build a new station we're going to capitalize on what we have and keep the cost down."


"We won't pay that much," insists Chairman Robert Wagner.  "We're going to downsize the station.  We're putting an addition onto Central Station where a lot of the manpower comes from."

Commissioners have been pursuing both capital projects through the architectural drawing stages while determining what the most immediate needs of the district are.  District Secretary and Commissioner Alvin Parker explained that the size of stations isn't a mandate, but that stations must be spread evenly around the town. 

Last year the total number of emergency calls in Lansing was 1053.  Fire Chief Scott Purcell reports that about 40% of all emergency calls in Lansing come from the Village.  Even though Station 5 is actually in the Village, Parker says that proximity to the fire isn't the only factor that makes for a quick response.  "You've got two things to look at," he says.  "If you don't have anybody there to get the vehicles you're not going to get your response.  If the manpower's not there you're not losing time coming out of here."

Manpower refers to volunteer men and women that make up the department.  While a few bunk in various stations, most receive emergency calls while at work, at home, or out with their families.  Those that can respond must drive to the nearest fire station, put on suits and equipment, and then take emergency vehicles to the scene.  The challenge for the district is to place equipment where volunteers can get to the fastest.  "You can come to Central Station and go into emergency mode, or drive your personal car to the Village and take longer to get there," Walters concludes.

A decrease in volunteerism has raised more than one challenge for the fire department, even to the point where commissioners are anticipating that they may need a paid fire chief at some time in the future.  That decrease in the number of volunteers impacts the department's ability to respond to emergencies as well.  "You have to realize that these stations were built in the early '70s," Parker notes.  "Volunteerism was on the increase and you had a lot of people.  Manpower was not a big issue.  That's why the station is where it is now.  At one time they had about thirty volunteers in the Station 5 area.  Now we only have one."

Planned additions to Central Station include an additional truck bay, room for eight bunkers, along with bathroom, showers, and kitchen facilities, a fitness room and a decontamination room.  Officials say that they don't like the estimates they are getting on that project either, so they are looking for alternative estimates now.  They  say they will start with the existing architect's drawing and ask contractors for an approach that will get them what they need at a reasonable price.  "The price that came in," says Parker, "As a Commissioner for the taxpayers I would not go to the taxpayers and say we want this money to build this thing.  No way."

Walters notes that the estimate for the addition included $30,000 for a fire alarm system that would detect a fire in the actual firehouse and alert the 911 center automatically.  But the commissioners have received an estimate for about $4,5000 for upgrades to individual stations in the district.  So before making the project public they are pursuing the best pricing for the whole project, something they feel the public will accept.

Fire Commisioners (Clockwise from left) Alvin Parker, Robert Wagner, Treasurer George Gesslein, Jeff Walters, Larry Creighton, Chief Scott Purcell, Deputy Chief Brad George (Not pictured Commissioner Kimberly Spencer)

"We're satisfied with the floor plan," Parker says.  "We'd really like to build that.  Now we have to figure out how we go about doing that.  There are several different ways we can look at doing this and save the taxpayers a lot of money."

District Treasurer George Gesslein hopes to bring the project in without much burden to taxpayers.  His 25 year plan lays out almost nonexistent budget rises, and he has been squirreling away funds to take the sting out of capital projects.  Officials originally estimated that the new Village firehouse would come in at $2.5 million.  Gesslein has said that a good percentage of that is already in district coffers.

When the projects do come to fruition they may depend on a public vote.  The benchmark is if we need to borrow money it's a public vote," explains Gesslein.  "If we just transfer money from our reserves, I think there is a permissive referendum requirement (where members of the public may petition to hold a vote), but I don't think there is a mandatory referendum.  But if we have to borrow money there will be a mandatory referendum."

When asked why have a Village station at all, the Commissioners say that having the stations spaced around Lansing as they are is advantageous when buying insurance, and it does serve a purpose when fire department members happen to be in the Village when a call comes in.  "The station gets used," Walters says.  "For instance last month I took the truck three times when I was down in that area.  A call came in.  A lot of members go to the mall with their wives, and one member works at the Y.  So it does serve a purpose when they're down there, but at night there is really not anyone there.  So it is a convenience having the station there."

District representatives met Wednesday with Village Mayor Donald Hartill and Trustee John O'Neill to apprise them of their decision, and discus their plans for the station's future.  The Commissioners say that they are considering a smaller station when they do build, scaling their plan down from a four truck bay firehouse to a three bay facility.

"We've still got to look to the future," says Commissioner Larry Creighton.  "You don't know what the future's going to bring down there.  One of the reasons we want to build more bunkers down there is to get more people there.  So you put up a new facility with bunking capabilities, and you hope you'll be drawing some bunkers from Cornell or some of the colleges."

For now district officials are doing their homework before bringing the project to public attention.  Parker says they won't bring the Central Station project to the public until commissioners have a price they think is reasonable and acceptable to taxpayers.  "When we go to the public we want to go with firm, correct information," Parker says.  "That's why we're here."

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