Celina to do study on fire department expansion

CELINA - City administrators will spend $55,000 on a feasibility study of city hall to determine how to proceed with an expansion of the fire department.

City councilors at Monday night's regular meeting approved legislation to transfer a total of $123,096 from one account to another to cover various expenses, including $50,000 to the law director consultant line item for unanticipated legal fees associated with Bryson Trust Fund litigation.

Councilors suspended the rules requiring three readings and passed the ordinance as an emergency measure to expedite the transfer of the funds.

A feasibility study of city hall, which houses Celina Municipal Court, the fire department and the police dispatch center, will cost $55,000, mayor Jeff Hazel said.

The study will provide city officials with a number of project options and cost estimates to accommodate personnel and fire department vehicles well into the future, said city safety service director Tom Hitchcock.

Once councilors decide on the parameters of a project, the next step would be to hire a design firm, said councilman Mike Sovinski.

"You get one chance to do this lifetime project and you want to make sure you're doing it right," Hazel said.

Hazel said he recently led councilors through the city hall building constructed in 1890 to survey its conditions.

"We actually need an expert on a feasibility study to determine exactly how that fire department should function, what kind of room it needs," he said. "We've talked about it for a number years on expansion."

He added that Celina Municipal Court also has building issues that need addressed.

"It's going to be critical to know how that building should look. A lot of folks could design a building but that doesn't necessarily mean they understand how a fire department works or the dispatch center," Hazel said. "We need to be able to collectively look at that to find out the best use of the space and how much space we would need to accommodate those folks that (are) in now."

Hazel pointed out that the city hall elevator has experienced problems and the buildings' restrooms are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"It's not like we're going to necessarily gut that building to rebuild it. It's still a historical structure," Hazel said. "We want to maintain the beauty of that building and historically to preserve it."

The study will also determine if there is enough space to the north to add onto the fire department.

The Spriggs building at 216 N. Main St. was razed over the summer in anticipation of the Mercer County eventually handing over the property to the city for a fire department expansion.

Some years back, city council members discussed acquiring and razing the Spriggs building to extended the fire department's squad bays.

The fire department was last furnished with additional space in 2015 when city officials spent roughly $75,000 to renovate the former Winkeljohn Printing building at 212 N. Main St.

The renovation involved installing a back garage door to allow for storage of the rescue truck, pickup truck and boat. Repairs to electric heaters and gas lines were included in the project.

Former fire chief Doug Wolters at a 2018 council meeting said the extra space in the Winkeljohn building was helpful but noted the department would eventually need a training room and bigger squad bays for ambulances.

The legislation approved by council transfers $55,000 from the general fund to the city hall capital account for the feasibility study.

It also shifts a total of $50,000 - $16,500 from the general fund, $16,000 from electric, $8,750 from water and $8,750 from wastewater - to the law director consultant line item. According to Hitchcock, $84,000 was originally allocated for legal consultants in the 2023 budget.

After about a year, the city was pulled back into litigation involving the Bryson Trust Fund and its fiduciary, First Financial Bank of Cincinnati, Hazel said.

Ed Bryson bequeathed part of his estate for public playgrounds. Through court approval, the intent of Bryson's charity was expanded to include all city recreational facilities. The fund has for decades financed millions of dollars in projects such as the Bryson Pool, shelter houses, park restrooms and other recreational improvements.

"We went a while without anything occurring and then the visiting judge decided to call a jury trial, and so there was a lot of logistics that occurred with multiple attorneys," Hazel said.

Two attorneys were brought on to assist city law director George Moore, Hazel noted.

"He (the visiting judge) was asking for information. Nobody really knew what he was asking for until they got there," Hazel said.

Hazel added the judge requested an itemized breakdown of fund expenditures. The litigation is ongoing.

"We have worked really well with First Financial Bank," Hazel said. "We think that we have got resolution but the judge was asking for a few different things."