Ballot Issue 6B
Incur debt of $24,894,429 to construct new station
Prepared by David Robinson, P.E. , former President of the Board of Directors for Foothills Fire.
History of infrastructure upgrades:
- 2011 construct new Rainbow Station (completed): $400,000
- 2018 remodel Idledale Station (completed): $150,000
- 2018 Informal concept replace administrative space at Rainbow Station: $1,000,000 (estimate 2022$)
- 2018 Informal concept replace Lookout Mountain Station: $750,000 (estimate 2022$)
- 2022 Ballot proposal, combine the 2018 concepts into a single new station at Lookout Mountain: $24,894,429
Foothills Fire District has 4 fire stations. Rainbow Station near Evergreen exit, Lookout Station on Lookout Mountain Rd, Idledale Station on Miller Lane, and Grapevine Station near I70 on Grapevine Rd.
Rainbow Station is the primary station that has equipment bays and administrative office space. The other 3 stations are basically equipment bays. In 2011, the District constructed new equipment bays at Rainbow station and made provisions for the attachment of new administrative office space. In 2018 the District remodeled Idledale Station. Both of these stations were paid by funds that had been set aside for infrastructure improvements, i.e., in cash.
Near the end of my term in 2018, previous Chief Zoril and I had informal discussions concerning the next infrastructure upgrades, specifically Administrative Offices and improvements/replacement of Lookout Mountain Station. In concept the thoughts were to eventually replace the existing administrative space at Rainbow Station and double its size to approximately 3,600 SF, and to remodel/replace Lookout Station to a similar size as the new Rainbow Station, approximately 3,500 SF.
The Rainbow Station and Idledale Station were considered critical projects due to either the deterioration or the unusable size of the existing structures. In my view, the existing Administrative Offices and Lookout Mountain Station, while not critical, should be upgraded.
The following cost opinions were prepared by me. I am confident they are a reasonable representation of cost at the conceptual stage of a project.
I am a Registered Professional engineer with a 35-year career as an Architectural Engineer. I design buildings. I have designed dozens of fire stations during my career. I am also still in contact with many construction industry professionals and obtained the current costing information from the Preconstruction Manager of a major General Construction Company.
The cost opinion I am providing includes land purchase, building construction, site development for the proposed site, fixed equipment/furnishings, and professional services fees.
- Reasonable size building of 8,000 SF: $3,000,000 to $3,500,000
- District's desired size building of 14,000 SF: $4,500,000 to $5,000,000
- What the fire department is asking for with Ballot 6B: $12,765,000 ($24,892,429 repayment)
Where the heck are they going to spend the extra 9 million dollars? Even if my cost opinions are inaccurate, they are not that inaccurate.
The answer seems to be that a vaguely worded ballot issue gives the District the ability to spend the extra 9 million dollars any way they wish. VOTE NO ON 6B AND 6C
