The debate over the potential location of a second fire station for the City of Polson elicited questions and suggestions at a public workshop Monday night, held prior to the regular city commission meeting.

City manager Ed Meece opened the workshop with a recap of a proposed land swap between the city and Cougar Ridge Development. The proposal was initially introduced last January, when the commission gave city staff permission to explore trading property on Kerr Dam Road that’s currently leased to B&I Holdings (which owns a building on the property) for four lots in the Ridgewater Development, owned by Mike Maddy (also a principal owner of B&I Holdings).

An appraisal completed last summer valued the Ridgewater lots at $588,000 and the city’s five acres leased to B&I at $380,000. Both parties agreed that the city would need to add 2.7 acres to balance the exchange.

A resolution to move forward with the deal was presented at a meeting in September, but failed for lack of a second after a contentious meeting during which Polson resident Murat Kalinyaprak argued that city officials and the fire chief had not thoroughly explored other options.

Meece said Monday’s meeting was scheduled to give commissioners an opportunity to ask questions and weigh-in on the proposal.

Commissioners Jake Holley and Lisa Rehard both urged the city to seek a second appraisal for both properties, and voiced concerns about the feasibility of passing a mill levy to fund a second station, especially in light of this year’s significant reduction in property tax revenue.

“I heard alarm bells going off in my head considering that we had just lost $400,000 in assessed taxable value and that state property tax efforts have yet to really kick in,” Holley said. “And just given the wonkiness of the current macroeconomic climate, that (a mill levy) seems like a very tall order.”

Meece responded that pursuing a mill levy was down the road a few years. “There's a lot of design work and research that would have to happen before we got to that point,” he said. “What we are proposing at the moment is to acquire the land.”

Rehard also noted that the city’s budget future is far more bleak than when the land swap was first broached last January and suggested the commission might need “to back the whole project up and look at whether we need to be doing it.”

She also asked about the feasibility of merging police and fire departments into one centralized public safety building.

“If we're having to go before the voters for a mill levy, we need to be sure that we can tell them that we've exhausted all ideas and that we're trying to give them as much bang for their buck as we can,” she said.

Meece said the city had studied a public safety option more than a decade ago, and the price tag at that time was around $8 million for a building that could accommodate both departments. He noted it would probably cost twice as much now.

According to Police Chief George Simpson, more grant money might be available for a combined safety facility, but it would still cover less than half the cost.

“Grant makers usually like that when you have a shared facility, but it does increase the overall cost of construction and maintenance,” he said.

Simpson acknowledged that the police department, like the fire department, has outgrown its quarters at City Hall. “The crime rate and fires are going to rise with the level of population,” he predicted. “So there's definitely a need to switch and there's a need to plan for future growth.”

While Fire Chief Kevin Straub agreed that grants weren’t apt to help much with “brick and mortar,” he had no objection to sharing quarters with police.

“We get along extremely well, and the only concern is the overall price. It will be a very expensive building,” he said. “But I know they need it as much as we need it.”

Unlike the police however, the fire department also needs a location on the east side of town to meet coverage standards set by two national organizations, the Insurance Service Organization (ISO) and the National Fire Protection Agency. The ISO stipulates that residences and buildings should ideally be located within 1.5 miles of a pumper truck and 2.5 miles from a ladder truck. Meeting those guidelines can help cut insurance costs for both the city and its residents.

While the current station meets those guidelines for the downtown area, those who live on the east side of Hwy. 93, where most of Polson’s residential growth is occurring, fall outside those mileage parameters.

That’s one reason the Ridgewater lots are so enticing. The lots are also flat and have access to city water and sewer, are appropriately zoned for a fire station, have controlled access to Hwy. 93, and could accommodate drive-through bays. A planned road connecting Ridgewater to Hillcrest Drive would also enhance access from the new station to the west side of town.

Straub also believes a station on the east side of Polson will help attract more volunteers from that area.

Exploring options

Rehard asked if Straub had looked at a 1.6-acre lot between Murdoch’s and Walgreens that’s currently on the market for $350,000. He said they had, and that while it’s considerably larger than the Ridgewater lots, it would require “a lot of dirtwork” to level it, access would need to be secured to either Hwy. 35 or (more challenging) to Hwy. 93, and it has no hook ups to city water and sewer on the property.

Commissioner Carolyn Pardini wondered if the current city shop, located on First St. E., could be converted to a fire station. Straub noted that moving the station south several blocks of its existing location still wouldn’t answer the need for fire services on the east side of town.

Rehard asked for an inventory of other city-owned properties that might be suitable for a second fire station. Commissioners also asked for clarification as to whether the city needed to consolidate services in one larger station or keep the existing station and add a new one.

Due to insurance criteria and growth on the east side of town, Straub believes the city will need two stations. He also noted that rural stations located south of Polson Hill on Caffrey Road and east of town at Finley Point, aren’t taken into account in meeting the ISO mileage calculations.

Kalinyaprak, who spoke briefly during the public comment period, continues to disparage the Ridgewater lots as “not really a good place for anything,” especially with a “non-existing road” linking the development to downtown.

Meece promised to make a supplemental packet with additional information available to commissioners and the public before the issue comes up again next year.