Final chapter

The new station features eight firehall bays and four ambulance bays with doors exiting onto both Mc-Donald and MacSteven Drives in Picton’s industrial park.

TaskForce the low bidder to build new fire and paramedic station in Picton

County officials will join with Mayor Robert Quaiff, council members and firefighting and paramedic staff at Picton’s industrial park on September 9 to break ground for a new fire and paramedic facility. This Thursday, a committee of council will be asked to accept the low bid of $3.6 million from TaskForce Engineering to build the new 17, 319 square-foot combined fire and land ambulance facility.

Comprising four double bays for fire services and two double bays for paramedic services, the new facility will eliminate the need for two firehalls—one at the corner of Ross and King Streets in Picton and another on the Heights overlooking the town.

It also means the County can walk away from an expensive lease agreement for its current land ambulance base.

There were 13 bidders for the new facility. All were lower than the estimate of $5 million prepared by the County’s consultants. Surprisingly, there was nearly a $1 million difference between the high bid and the low bid presented by TaskForce.

Both the County and the project manager are familiar with the winning bidder. Task- Force built the Wellington and District Community Centre and is currently building a liquor store in Picton.

The contracted price is for the construction of the building only. Engineering, design and management costs are expected to add another $1 million to the final tally for the new fire and paramedic station.

Net operating costs, after deducting expenses from three redundant buildings, is estimated to add about $100,000 to the tax levy each year, including debt servicing costs. But that number masks the fact that two of the now redundant firehalls were old and in need of serious investment. The new firehall also enables the department to consolidate its equipment and vehicles.

Further, the combined fire and paramedic station means the County can walk away from an expensive lease on the land ambulance station at Mac- Steven Drive when the term ends in September 2016. Since 2006, the County has paid $84,000 per year to rent the 6,000 square-foot ambulance garage. Utility costs, maintenance and taxes added more than $30,000 to the annual cost of that facility each year. This will go a long way toward servicing the debt of the combined fire and paramedic station.

The new station will be the culmination of a long and often difficult planning process. A committee of firefighters, staff and council toiled for two years to develop a plan, featuring a new station in Consecon (now built) and new station at Waring’s Corners. The plan meant the elimination of old and decaying stations in Hiller, Bloomfield and the Heights. It also allowed the department to close its Picton station—no longer big enough to hold its gear.

But that plan faced objections from many fronts. Some argued the Bloomfield station was critical to the safety of the community. Other said it was wrong to use prime agricultural land for near Warings Corners for a fire station. In North Marysburgh, residents complained that closing the station on the Heights would lengthen response times. Others worried about incurring more debt for a facility that would only marginally improve the service.

So the plan was scaled down, the firehall was combined with the paramedic station and the facility moved to the industrial park in Picton.

On September 9, the County will, at last, be at the beginning of the end of the final chapter of its firehall odyssey.