Adams grows impatient for services building
Published 12:00 am Friday, June 22, 2001
ADAMS – Officials in Adams and Adams Township are growing impatient.
Friday, June 22, 2001
ADAMS – Officials in Adams and Adams Township are growing impatient.
So are the Adams Volunteer Fire Department, Adams Ambulance Service and Adams Rural Fire Association.
They want a new multipurpose emergency services building and they want it … well … tomorrow.
Dexter has such a building. So do Brownsdale, Hayfield, LeRoy and Grand Meadow.
Now, it’s Adams’ turn.
At a meeting Tuesday afternoon at Adams City Hall, the city and township officials told Mower County Commissioner RayTucker to, as Adams Mayor Leroy Swanson, said, "Get this thing in high gear."
Tucker has been the county board’s representative in discussions with city and township officials. The county will be a financial partner to the project because it wants to use a portion of the building for a county Highway Department shop building. In addition, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will partner with the city, township and county in order to locate a salt shed at the site.
A multipurpose emergency services building would relieve severe space problems for the Adams Volunteer Fire Department and city ambulance service.
In addition, it would give Adams Township something it doesn’t have: a township hall.
Tom Mullenbach, an Adams Township Board member and a Rural Fire Association officer, has spearheaded the project. Two years ago, Mullenbach received a $10,000 award at the National Association of Townships annual meeting for his community leadership efforts. He promptly designated the money to be spent for a multi-purpose building that would give Adams Township a permanent meeting place.
"I think we’re on the right track and that this project can be done. I’m just hoping it will be done soon. We’ve waited a long time," said Mullenbach.
According to the city’s architect, Eugene M. Branstrom of Branstrom Associates Architects, Inc. of Edina, the 13,500 square foot building can be constructed for an estimated $400,000. "That’s the building only; not the land and that represents the basic building costs and the fixed equipment inside the building," Branstrom said.
The building would give the fire department room for six vehicles, plus meeting/training room space and space for future use.
Two ambulance vehicles could also be parked in the building and the service would also have office space.
The township would also have an office in the building.
There would be a large meeting room shared by all building occupants, plus storage room.
There would be two or more entrances/exists from Highway 56 at the city’s eastern edge or where a bowling alley was burned to the ground.
With the county’s assistance, the city acquired the tax-forfeited property.
However, in order to keep all occupants in one building on the North side of Highway 56, they will have to acquire additional land adjoining the city-owned property.
Who owns that land? Answer Dan May, the town’s fire chief.
Tucker said, "My feeling is that everything should be in one building and not two of them on both sides of the highway."
If the city cannot acquire land from May, it has the option of purchasing land across the state highway.
Mayor Swanson agreed with Tucker. "A building on one side of the highway to house everything has a lot of advantages," he said.
Roger Jax, a Nevada Township representative to the discussion, said, "Cost-wise, it would be a great advantage to have everything in one building."
With the consensus of the group to build the new multi-purpose EMS building on the north side of the highway curve at the east edge of Adams — if the needed property can be acquired from the fire chief — Tucker, too, sensed the city and township officials’ urgency.
"If we’re going to get this thing done this year, we need some affirmative action today," he said.
That came in the form of the city, township representatives’ encouragemetn that the county commissioner continue negotiations with May to acquire the much-needed land.
However, Tucker also acknowledge, "We may between a rock and a hard place, because we only have those two locations."
According to Tucker, the county board has allocated a sum of money as the county’s contribution to the project. He did not say how much the allocation is. Tucker also said, while the entire county board supports the project, he will have to return to the entire board for their approval of the project once the land is acquired and a site plan prepared.
Architect Branstrom said a pre-engineered building such as that envisioned by the city, township and county officials could be constructed yet this year. However, he also said any delay threatens such hopes and one of those delays could be the bond referendum the city of Adams will take to citizens sometime this summer.
But even that concern was wiped out, when Tucker asked if any of the local Adams residents thought the bond referendum would be rejected. All of them predicted it would pass.
Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com.