TORY DUNCAN | CLAY COUNTY NEWS
In a special meeting of the Sutton City Council, council members approved, 2-1, to authorize City Administrator Warren Myers to make an offer on a residential property located at 111 E. Forrest St., in Sutton, for what could very well be a future expansion of the Sutton Volunteer Fire Department’s fire hall.
The property is located just east of the current fire barn in central Sutton.
Council members voting to move forward with an offer were Sherrie Bartell and Larry T. Nuss, while councilman Reed Stone voted no on the proposal. Councilman Mike Newman was not present at the meeting.
In the approved motion, the council authorized Myers to submit an offer on the property with a $1,500 earnest money check accompanying the proposal. The motion also grants Myers authority to negotiate the potential purchase and allows Mayor Tim Anderson to sign any necessary documentation should the transaction be finalized.
Numerous members of the community, and members of the Sutton Fire Department spoke to council members about the need for a future expansion, or new fire hall with the growing expansion of new, and larger fire equipment.
Doug George opened the discussion with a brief synopsis of the need for expansion, sharing, “We’re running out of space in our current building, because of the additional equipment the department has brought on, and because the sheer size of the equipment is much larger these days than what the building was originally built for.”
George added, “There’s a potential of adding four more bays to the fire hall, but nothing at this point is set in stone, we just would like the opportunity to take a real look into what could potentially happen with an expansion.”
Myers noted that “We’re in such an early stage of exploring the potential of what could possibly take place if the property is purchased. Engineering and getting set plans in place is the first step for us to even know what the potential cost of an expansion would be.”
Fire chief, Tracey Landenberger, noted “If it is feasible, we initially think that there could be up to 236 extra square feet of space after a potential expansion with all of the equipment we currently have at the fire hall.”
Landenberger added, “It could be at least a year, if not more before we really get a firm plan in place to move forward with anything, but if we purchase the house, it’ll enable us to get official drawings in place to figure out just how much an expansion would cost, but we, as a department, feel that this would be a much more cost effective direction to go, versus building a new fire barn somewhere else in town.”
Department member Brett Gibson added an even bigger benefit to the discussion, stating “if plans work out to make this happen, a huge bonus to all of this would not only be more space for the department, but the addition of a community storm shelter, which right now, we really don’t have a safe place to shelter in case of bad weather.”
Rex Kruetzer, a former member who served on the fire department in many capacities for 30 years, shared that the current fire hall was built around 1977, and that equipment types and sizes make it hard to have all of the department’s equipment inside the current barn.
“As you’ve heard tonight, the department just doesn’t have the space, and this just seems to be the most cost-effective way to provide more space for the department.”
Rick Rath, whose home would be the most impacted by a potential expansion, as his home is directly north of a potential new expansion spoke up and shared, “I don’t have a problem with this. The fire department has always kept the areas near my home clean and well kept, and I trust that will be the same if an expansion, happens. I don’t see how this wouldn’t be beneficial to the department and the community.”
Council members went into executive session and, after discussion, came out with the motion to give Myers the okay to move forward with negotiations on residential property.
